The Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham, and elements of the Free Syrian Army have taken two key regime bases in Idlib province. Al Nusrah has used an American TOW anti-tank missile against regime forces. The US-led coalition has conducted nine airstrikes in Syria since Dec. 13; eight of them “destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL buildings and two ISIL staging positions and also struck another ISIL fighting position” near Kobane; one destroyed an Islamic State vehicle near abu-Kamal. European Union countries have pledged to help rebuild Aleppo if a UN-proposed ceasefire is successful. The UN chief for humanitarian affairs “has run out of words” to describe the chaos in Syria.
