Syrian Opposition Sets Conditions, Maintains Resistance to Peace Talks. The Syrian opposition will not attend negotiations in Geneva next month unless several conditions are met, including the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, according to Al Jazeera. Their position has dimmed hopes for a productive peace conference; even U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that the peace conference may not take place as planned.

Ahmed al-Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition, said opposition leaders would be considered traitors if they agreed to the Geneva conference without first securing certain concessions, Al Jazeera reports. “The conditions include safe passage in beseiged areas, the release of detained men, women and children, and setting a fixed timetable for all the phases of negotiation.”

A Monday meeting between the opposition and its Western allies ended with communiqué, quoted by Reuters, that said Geneva talks would aim to establish a transitional government.

“Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in Syria,” according to the report.

In a contrasting narrative, Assad himself seems intent on staying in power. In an interview this week, he said there was no reason why he wouldn’t run for re-election next year, extending his rule as president.

Obama’s Uncertain Path Amid Syria Bloodshed. The New York Times takes an informative, in-depth look at Obama’s meandering Syria strategy. It reports that a June meeting among top advisers concerning Assad’s alleged chemical weapons use “ended the way so many attempts to define a Syrian strategy had ended in the past, with the president’s aides deeply divided over how to respond.

“A close examination of how the Obama administration finds itself at this point — based on interviews with dozens of current and former members of the administration, foreign diplomats and Congressional officials — starts with a deeply ambivalent president who has presided over a far more contentious debate among his advisers than previously known,” the Times reports.

“Those advisers reflected Mr. Obama’s own conflicting impulses on how to respond to the forces unleashed by the Arab Spring: whether to side with those battling authoritarian governments or to avoid the risk of becoming enmeshed in another messy war in the Middle East.”

Spotlight on Kafranbel: The Rebels Using Humor as a Weapon. CNN.com reports on Kafranbel, a rebel-held Syrian city that has become a famous producer of satire about the conflict.

“Laughter means life. We want to live and we need to live. We need to send a message to the world that we are human and we want to live,” Raed Fares, head of the opposition Kafranbel media center, told CNN.

In its latest video, an amateur cast of activists, civilians and Free Syrian Army rebels are dressed like cavemen and mocking the international community’s inability to act.

“I thought it would be good to use cavemen because of the language. I don’t need to translate or say anything; everybody all over the world can understand without talking,” Fares told the network, which also says that “in the first two scenes, the cavemen demonstrate against al-Assad only to be killed first by gunfire then by TNT, but when the oppressors fire chemical weapons, previously uninterested bystanders representing the international community intervene to confiscate the gas.”

U.K. Pledges More in Refugee Aid, While Sweden Takes More People. With winter approaching and concerns about freezing temperatures on the rise, ITV News reports that the U.K. will pledge another 2 million British pounds (roughly $3.2 million) to Syrian refugees, this time to those in UNICEF-run camps in northern Iraq.

Of all European countries Sweden has been the most generously hospitable, offering permanent residency to Syrians seeking safety and a better life. The BBC reports that over the past seven weeks, more than 4,500 applicants have sought asylum, on top of 7,500 already in the country on temporary permits.

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:

NY Times: U.S. and 10 Other Nations Back Peace Talks, but Syrian Moderates Are Uncertain

Huff Post: Syria’s Chemical Weapons May Go To Norway For Destruction

Daily Beast: In a Weapons Shell Game, Russia Is Still Arming Syria 

NPR: Saudis Back Away from U.S. on Syria

Al Monitor: Saudi Prince Turki: ‘High Level of Disappointment’ With U.S. Over Syria

Reuters: Saudi Arabia Warns of Shift Away From US over Syria, Iran

BBC: Sweden’s Asylum Offer to Refugees from Syria

Bloomberg: Syria Aid Costs Jump as UN Food Agency Seeks More Donors

Reuters: Islamist Rebels Fight Army for Christian Town in Syria