Al-Nusra Front

The U.N. peace envoy to Syria on Dec. 9 rejected suggestions that a proposed truce in the northern city of Aleppo would play into President Bashar al-Assad's hands, saying it was a stepping stone in a political process and vital to allowing in aid.
   

The United Nations peace envoy to Syria is holding talks with the Syrian opposition in Turkey to promote a cease-fire proposal for the northern city of Aleppo, opposition sources said on Dec. 8.

Staffan de Mistura hopes the plan will establish truces in Aleppo, once Syria's commercial center and second-most-populous city, and allow aid into rebel districts.

Syria rejected as "fabricated" U.S. accusations that its forces are targeting civilians with air strikes and said Washington would do better to criticize hardline Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who have killed American citizens.
   

NATO is not considering establishing a no-fly zone in northern Syria, something Turkey has been calling for to alleviate security and humanitarian pressure on its southern border, one of the alliance’s top generals has told Reuters.

More than 100 of the 600 Turkish citizens that have gone to fight for jihadist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have perished in battle, according to intelligence estimates, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said late Nov. 24.

American warplanes have carried out another air strike on the Khorasan group in northwest Syria, the latest of several raids on the Al-Qaeda offshoot, the US military said Nov. 19.
      

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL) combatant manpower to be between 20,000 to 31,500 in Iraq and Syria combined, and that was back in September, before the organization had attracted new recruits from all over the world.

A UN report is recommending the seizure of all oil tanker trucks leaving Islamist-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria to cut off millions of dollars from crude sales now bankrolling the jihadists.
      

Some 14,000 militants of the Syrian rebel group have abandoned Aleppo, while its commander has fled to Turkey, according to Turkish security sources The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the recognized armed opposition group against the Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has ceased its resistance in Aleppo, Syria’s second biggest city, withdrawing its 14,000 militia from the city, a ranking Turkish security so

US President Barack Obama on Sunday rejected any alliance with Bashar al-Assad against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), arguing that the Syrian ruler was illegitimate and that any such pact would backfire.