Damascus

Syria accused Israel of bombing its main international airport on Dec. 7 as the U.N. announced talks with rebel leaders on a ceasefire in its war-battered second city of Aleppo.

The accusation came hours ahead of an appeal by humanitarian organisations Dec. 8  for countries to take in around 180,000 refugees as the number of people fleeing the Syrian conflict continues to grow.

Syrian rebels battled jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) near Damascus on Monday, pressing their bid to expel them from their strongholds, a monitoring group said.
      
Rebels holding positions in southern Damascus and the outskirts of the capital and seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster, launched an offensive some three weeks ago to expel IS.