The previously unknown Ahrar Al-Qalamoun Brigade reportedly conveyed the Al Nusrah Front’s demands to the Assad regime via the Vatican that 12 nuns kidnapped from Maaloula will be released only if conditions are met, including that the regime release 1,000 female prisoners and suspend its siege on a number of strategic areas, such as Ghouta in eastern Damascus. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham is said to be gaining ground from rebel groups in Syria, and to have about 5,500 foreign fighters, including 250 Chechens in Aleppo, and 17,000 Syrian fighters. A suicide attack in Hasakah killed five people and wounded 10 more. The OPCW verified that all of Syria’s unfilled chemical weapons munitions have been destroyed; the US plans to destroy the chemical weapons at sea by early 2014.
