MESOP SYRIAN / KURDISH ESSENTIALS
Ahrar al-Sham Makes Overtures to the West: Conservative Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham pledged it would support Syrian minorities in attempts to court the West and distance itself from the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, with which it shares a military alliance. The U.S. military denied a claim that it has been coordinating air strikes against the Islamic State with Assad’s forces, and the U.S. government was critical of recent charges brought by the Assad government against a number of activists. Fred Hof writes of local governance structures emerging in Syria and the need for them to be protected and assisted. www.mesop.de