Jaysh al-Islam

A senior member of the Syrian Islamist group, Jaish al-Islam, has been detained in France and charged with war crimes and torture.

The man, born in 1988, is a former spokesman for the group and has been in France with a student visa under the Erasmus program. He was detained in Marseille.

The group in control of the last rebel bastion near Damascus appeared on April 1 to have agreed a deal for its fighters to make peace with the government or quit the Eastern Ghouta enclave, Syrian state media said on Aprl 1.

At least 28 civilians have been killed in bombing and shelling against the besieged Syrian East Ghouta region near the capital Damascus. 19 people were killed on Wednesday in a Russian air strike in the city of Mizraba and the rest were killed the same day in regime strikes and shelling in other areas, the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights Watch said.

A week of infighting killed nearly 169 people in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region outside Syria's capital Damascus before calm returned on May 5, a monitor said.

The clashes erupted on April 28 between the powerful Army of Islam faction and the former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, along with ally Faylaq al-Rahman.

Peace talks aimed at ending the Syria conflict through a gathering between the Syrian government and rebel groups made a rocky start on Jan. 23 in the Kazakh capital of Astana. 

The crucial Syria summit, which will bring Syria's government and rebel fighters to a negotiating table for the first time after nearly six years of war, following 23 days of cease-fire, is set to start in Kazakhstan's capital on Jan. 23. 

Prospective participants in peace talks scheduled to take place in the Kazakh capital of Astana were making preparations ahead of Jan. 23, the set date for the start of the negotiations that were brokered by Russia and Turkey.

Syrian rebel groups have decided to attend peace talks backed by Russia and Turkey in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana to press for the implementation of a widely violated cease-fire, rebel officials said on Jan. 16, Reuters has reported. 

The Syria-wide cease-fire agreement has been signed by 13 armed opposition groups, Osama Abou Zaid, a representative from the Syrian opposition's truce negotiating team, told reporters late on Dec. 29. 

The agreement, that is two-page-long and consists of five articles, covers all regions in Syria and applies to all opposition groups, he said.

Several of Syria's key opposition factions said on April 18 they were launching an armed response to what they alleged were regime "violations" of a ceasefire agreement in the war-torn country.