Israeli Planes Strike Syrian Fighters

Israel has launched two air strikes in the Syrian theater.

On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli plane bombed a military installation along the country’s border with Lebanon belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a Palestinian faction that supports President Bashar al-Assad, Syrian television reported.

Six people were wounded, Reuters and other media stated. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Earlier that day, an Israeli drone struck a car in Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province on the outskirts of the village of Hader, a Druze area bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The strike killed two members of a militia fighting alongside the Syrian military – the National Defence Forces, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and Syrian state television.

U.N. Mediator Suggests Peace Working Meetings

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N.’s mediator in Syria’s conflict, has offered the country’s warring parties the opportunity to join working meetings on how to implement a peace roadmap. De Mistura told the U.N. Security Council that – since the parties are not ready to hold formal peace talks – the four working groups would address “safety and protection for all, political and constitutional issues, military and security issues, and public institutions, reconstruction and development,” Reuters reported.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon responded that he was ready to convene a high-level conference to help solidify any framework reached by the groups.

De Mistura’s briefing follows almost three months of consultations with Syrian parties, as well as regional and global powers, on implementing the Geneva Communique. That roadmap adopted by world leaders in 2012 calls for a political transition in Syria but fails to address the fate of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“Sadly there is still no consensus on the way forward on the Communique or yet a formalized negotiation,” said de Mistura. “While common ground exists, the questions over devolution of executive authority to a transitional body, let’s be honest with ourselves, remains the most polarized element of the Communique.”

Nusra Front Kidnaps Leader of U.S.-backed Rebel Group

The head of a U.S.-backed rebel group called Division 30 has been kidnapped by the Nusra Front in northern Syria, sources say.

The rebels in a statement accused the al-Qaida-linked group of taking Nadim al-Hassan and several companions in a rural area north of Aleppo on Tuesday night, and urged their release.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported the rebels were abducted after a meeting to coordinate with other factions, which took place in Azaz, north of Aleppo, according to Reuters.

The news agency said the abduction was considered a blow to Washington’s efforts to train and equip fighters to combat Islamic State. It quoted opposition sources as saying most of the 54 fighters so far trained by a special U.S. program in neighboring Turkey were from Division 30.

Recommended Reads

• The National Interest: Meet Syria’s Fake Moderates
• VOX: The US Plan for an ISIS-free Zone in Syria, Explained
• Al Arabiya: Turkey’s ‘Safe Zone’: Another Chapter in Syria’s Disintegration
• The Christian Science Monitor: US-Turkey Military Deal: A Turning Point in Obama’s Handling of Syria Crisis?
• The Daily Star: ‘Syria is History,’ Bashar Assad Tells Us
• Stratfor: Syria: A Chronology of How the Civil War May End