Lawyers

• Syrian opposition leaning towards abandoning peace talks following Aleppo conflict

  The Syrian opposition negotiators and leaders are now leaning towards bailing out on the peace talks. The continuing offensives and advancements of government forces following the Aleppo conflict has left a bad taste on the oppositions mouth.,

• Syrian rebels say they receive more weapons for Aleppo battle

  Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies near Aleppo said on Monday they had received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad since the start of a major government offensive last week.

• Islamic State makes closest advance to Aleppo, Iranian killed

  Islamic State fighters have seized Syrian villages on the outskirts of Aleppo from rival insurgent fighters, a monitoring group said on Friday, despite Russian air strikes that Moscow says have targeted the militant group.

• U.S. accuses Syria of backing Islamic State's Aleppo advance

  The United States has accused the Syrian military of carrying out air strikes to help Islamic State fighters advance around the northern city of Aleppo, messages posted on the U.S. Embassy Syria official Twitter feed said.

• Dozens escape Islamic State-run jail in Syria: monitor

  About 95 captives, including Kurdish fighters, escaped from an Islamic State-run prison in northern Syria but most have been recaptured, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

• Islamic State says U.S. hostage killed in air strike in Syria

  Islamic State said on Friday that an American woman hostage it was holding in Syria was killed when Jordanian fighter jets bombed a building where she was being held, but Jordan expressed doubt about the Islamist militant group's account of her death.

• Islamic State says it has beheaded second Japanese hostage Goto

  Islamic State militants said on Saturday they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, after the failure of international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap.

• In Syria, desperate residents see little hope in U.N. Aleppo truce plan

  As winter sets in along the front lines of Aleppo, residents are desperate for the sort of relief United Nations officials hope a new ceasefire push will soon bring to the war-battered Syrian city.

• France says anti-IS coalition must turn attention to Aleppo

  The coalition fighting Islamic State must now save Syria's second city Aleppo as moderate rebels face destruction by attacks from forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and jihadi militants, France's foreign minister said.

• Islamic State training pilots to fly in three jets: Syria monitor

  Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, saying it was the first time that the militant group had taken to the air.