Syrian rebels shell Aleppo after withdrawal

Syrian rebels shelled Aleppo on Friday, killing three people, state television reported, a day after insurgents finished withdrawing from their last pocket of territory in the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said about 10 shells had fallen in al-Hamdaniya district in southwest Aleppo.

Rebels seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have frequently shelled the areas of Aleppo that have been under government control throughout the conflict, which began in 2011.

The destruction in those parts of the city has been far less than in the eastern districts that rebels held until this month.

International Diplomats Scramble to Re-establish Syria Truce

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with international diplomats in Geneva in an effort to end hostilities in Syria where government forces have pounded the rebel-held city of Aleppo for more than a week. The pressure is on Russia to use its influence over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the violence.

Russia's 7 months airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 5,799 people - NGO

Russian airstrikes have killed at least 5,799 people in Syria since Moscow's aerial campaign started in late September, the opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.

According to the British-based NGO, at least 2,005 civilians were among those killed, including 481 minors and 305 women.

The Russian airstrikes, which began on Sept. 30, have also claimed the lives of 2,035 Islamic State fighters, as well as 1,759 members of Syrian rebel factions and the Al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

Algeria Minister Meets Assad In Damascus As Syrian Army Advances Near Palmyra City

DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with an Algerian minister on Monday, in a rare Arab ministerial visit to the war-torn country, state media reported.

In a related development, Syrian army advanced towards Arak region in the Eastern countryside of Palmyra city and has managed to approach Arak and T3 gas fields. 

Assad has compared his country's war against rebels to the conflict between security forces and Islamist militants that devastated Algeria during the 1990s. The Syrian army and the resistance forces continued their advances in the Eastern part of Homs province, and started fresh operations to seize back several important areas near the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur).

Assad forces won back the strategic cities of Palmyra and Quaryatayn in the part month. If the army purges terrorists from Arak gas field in the coming days, the next destination will be the strategic city of al-Sukhneh which would mean cutting off  ISIL's main supply route between Deir Ezzur and Raqqa provinces.

Snapshot: Three days of Russian air strikes on Syria And Criticisms, Paris States 3 Conditions to Cooperate with Russia in Syria

Sukhoi warplanes used by Russia in Syria anti-terror

A snapshot of developments since Russia's first air strikes on Syria, an intervention the West says is directed more at regime opponents than Islamic State group jihadists.

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin had an in-depth discussion on Syria on Friday in which they "tried to narrow down differences on political transition," an aide to Hollande said after the two met in Paris.

The aide did not say if they had succeeded in any way in the 1h15-minute conversation, which took place ahead of a meeting the two men had with the leaders of Germany and Ukraine aimed at resolving the Ukraine crisis.

Syria Conflict: Putin, Hollande Meet In Paris Amid Tension

Footage of Russia's bombing in Syria

The French and Russian presidents are set for talks on Friday amid fears Russia is carrying out “indiscriminate” air strikes on Syrian militants.

As the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine meet in Paris Friday to discuss Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart François Hollande are holding private talks amid rising tensions over Russian strikes in Syria.

The main summit, scheduled to negotiate a fragile peace deal in Ukraine, has been overshadowed by a refugee crisis spurred by the war in Syria and Russia’s dramatic military intervention there.

In Syria, French military, like the US, is targeting Islamic State (IS) fighters with air strikes. But the US says Russia is carrying out random strikes against the Syrian opposition.