Zahran Alloush

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.

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.

Russian air strikes like the one that killed a top Syrian rebel leader last week send the wrong message to groups engaged in a political dialogue to end the conflict and complicate efforts to begin negotiations, the U.S. State Department said on Dec. 28.

At least 45 people were killed in Syrian government air strikes on opposition areas around Damascus Feb. 5 after rebels fired dozens of mortar rounds at the capital, a monitor said.
      
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least six children were among those killed in nearly 40 air raids on parts of Eastern Ghouta in Damascus province.
     

 Four civilians were killed and dozens wounded when rebels fired a barrage of rockets and mortar rounds Jan. 25 at central Damascus, a monitoring group said.
      
The rebel attack came two days after they threatened to retaliate for deadly air raids by the Syrian regime against an opposition-held area on the edge of the capital.