A coalition of 15 armed rebel groups, including the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council, reportedly joined together to form the “Syrian Rebels Front”; talks between the FSA and the Islamic Front have not produced an accord, and the FSA as a result sought to form a new military coalition to unify the Syrian rebels that support the FSA. In Idlib, the Islamic Front and the Free Syrian Army’s Martyrs of Syria brigade remain at odds after the Islamic Front seized the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from the brigade as well as FSA warehouses and arms depots; the two groups are said to be holding some 100 captive fighters. Two Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide car bombers died in attacks on checkpoints in Deir Izzour on Dec. 12. A Danish task force is preparing to begin taking the first cargo of chemical weapons out of Syria for destruction. The US is said to be planning on holding talks with the Islamic Front in the coming days in Turkey.
