Plans revealing thousands of plots by the Islamic State (IS) terror group to attack Europe have been discovered by coalition forces fighting the militants in Syria and Iraq, Britain’s top commander in the region has claimed.

Syrian government forces have regained control of areas they lost over the past two weeks to a rebel offensive on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo.

An American soldier who said he left his unit in Iraq in protest at an “oil-driven” war has been sentenced to a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge for desertion.