A UN envoy to Syria claims that regime officials gave him “positive signals” regarding a proposal for a ceasefire in Aleppo. The SOHR has stated that more than 860 have been killed since the start of US and allied airstrikes in Syria, including 746 Islamic State fighters, 68 members of Nusrah and at least 50 civilians. An activist group claims that children in a jihadist training camp were compelled to behead captured Syrian soldiers on Aug. 28. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the assassination of five nuclear engineers on Nov. 10 in Damascus. The UN estimates that 7.2 million people have been displaced by the war in Syria. “Moderate” rebels have been defecting to the Islamic State, citing a lack of western support; a truce has reportedly been brokered by Ahrar ash-Sham between “the Syria Revolutionaries Front, Hazzm Movement, Al-Nusra Front and Jund al-Aqsa” in Idlib province. The largest group of Uzbek jihadists fighting in Syria has sworn allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Kurdish forces blocked a strategic road that Islamic State fighters have used for resupply in Kobane.
