Ongoing negotiations aimed at initiating a political solution to the ongoing war in Syria appeared to be going nowhere on Thursday as Assad regime aircraft struck Douma, a rebel controlled suburb of Damascus, and intense ground fighting between the regime and various armed factions resumed in several other areas. Russian strategic bombers also hit several targets in Syria Thursday, part of an intensified air campaign following the Kremlin’s admission earlier this week that the Islamic State (IS) terror militia was responsible for the downing of a Russian passenger jet over the Egyptian Sinai last month. Elsewhere, a growing number of analysts are advising a ground forces operation to destroy IS, as indications have emerged that the air war being waged against IS by the US, France, Russia and a handful of other countries has killed large numbers of IS fighters and destroyed much oil field infrastructure, weapons and buildings, but it has not produced a strategic victory. Read More