NATO has ruled out sending ground troops to fight against Islamic State militants in Syria, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg told a Swiss newspaper, stressing the need to bolster local forces in the conflict. “That is not on the agenda of the coalition and the NATO allies,” he told the Tages-Anzeiger paper when asked about dispatching ground forces to accompany air strikes. “The United States has a limited number of special forces. In the foreground, however, is strengthening local forces. This is not easy, but it’s the only option,” he added Mr. Stoltenberg stressed that the conflict was not a war between the West and the Islamic world, but rather against “extremism and terrorism”. “Muslims are on the front line in this war. Most victims are Muslims, and most of those who fight against the IS are Muslims. We can not carry on this struggle for them,” he said. Mr. Stoltenberg pointed out that NATO would help Turkey improve its air defences after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet last month. The alliance will adopt a package of measures for Turkey before Christmas, he added. He emphasized the need to calm the standoff with Russia after the plane was shot down.

“Now it is important to de-escalate and to develop mechanisms to prevent similar incidents in the future. We see a significant build-up of the Russian military presence from the far north to the Mediterranean. There, too, we need to avoid similar incidents such as in Turkey,” he said. He called for Russia to “play a more constructive role in the fight against IS. So far, Russia has attacked other groups and focused on supporting the Assad regime.” U.S. President Barack Obama said last week his decision to send more U.S. special forces to combat Islamic State in Iraq was not an indication that the United States was heading for another invasion like the one in 2003. Mr. Obama has said his strategy to fight the militant group in Iraq and Syria does not include U.S. ground combat troops, but the Pentagon announced it would send a new force of special operations troops.

Leaders of Venezuela’s opposition are claiming victory ahead of official results in Sunday’ crucial legislative elections that could alter the country’s balance of power after 17 years of socialist rule. Hours after polls closed, several opposition leaders took to the Internet to announce that they had won a majority of seats in the National Assembly for the first time since 1998. But with no official results released and the ruling socialist party not commenting, their claims could not be confirmed. “The results are as we expected. Venezuela won,” former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on Twitter. “With great humility, serenity and maturity we accept what the people decided.” An opposition victory would be a major setback for the socialist revolution started 17 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez, who until his death in 2013 had an almost-magical hold on the political aspirations of Venezuela’s long-excluded masses. It would also be a major blow to Latin America’s left, which gained power in the wake of Chavez’s ascent but more recently has been struggling in the face of a region-wide economic slowdown and voter fatigue in some countries with rampant corruption.

Last month, Argentines elected a conservative businessman over the chosen successor of Cristina Fernandez, who was a close ally of Chavez. In Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff is battling low approval ratings and facing impeachment over a corruption scandal in her left-leaning Workers’ Party. President Nicolas Maduro had repeatedly vowed in recent weeks to take to the streets and defend the socialist system build by his mentor Chavez if his party lost, though on Sunday, he appeared to soften his tone. “In Venezuela, peace and democracy must reign,” he said after voting in a working-class neighbourhood of Caracas. “I’ve said we’ll take the fight to the streets, but maybe I was wrong. We can’t go where we’ve always been.” If confirmed, it would be the opposition’s first major electoral victory since Chavez became President, with Venezuelans tired of rampant crime, routine shortages of basic goods and inflation pushing well into triple digits. The economic crisis has worsened with this year’s slump in oil revenue, which funds almost all public spending.