Opposition groups in Syria continued to sound the alarm this week about a stepped up air campaign by the Assad regime to terrorize and ethnically cleanse large areas of the country, including raids on Aleppo which killed over 60 people on Wednesday and Thursday. Elsewhere, a regime military source toldReuters on Thursday that troops have begun to use cutting-edge weapons recently supplied to them by Russia, amidst reports of an intensified air campaign against the Islamic State (IS) terror milita, particularly in its de facto capital of Raqqa, which is also targeted by US-led coalition aircraft. In response to recent events, the Obama Administration is reportedly considering Russian proposals for talks aimed at “deconfliction” of the Syrian crisis. Elsewhere, reports emerged of increased IS activity in Iraq, with several bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday claimed by the group. Read More