Town by Town, Al Qaeda Advancing in Syria. Tom Lister of CNN has a piece on al-Qaida’s steady advance in controlling northern Syria, particularly along the Turkish border. He uses the recent capture of the border town of Atimah as an example of the group foisting its beliefs and governing methods.

“The people of Atimah can expect the imposition of strict Islamic customs, with women and girls being coerced to dress more conservatively and Sharia, or religious, courts being established to dispense justice,” he writes.

“Opposition activists say [it] has cut down a famous landmark, an ancient oak tree, near Atimah. The militants claimed people had been worshipping the tree rather than God, an allegation rejected by locals, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.”

Furthermore, “the loss of Atimah will make it more difficult for brigades of the Free Syrian Army to bring in supplies from Turkey and get wounded fighters across the border to hospitals. It also may worsen the plight of internally displaced Syrians who have swollen the population of this northern corner of the country.”

Victims of Syria’s War Finding Care in Israel. Kevin Connolly of the BBC reports that Syrian refugees have quietly been receiving medical care in the unlikeliest of places: Israel.

A pregnant woman he met “had to be taken to a point inside Syria from where she could be seen by Israeli soldiers patrolling the fence that marks the old cease-fire line between the two countries that dates back decades,” he writes.

“The humanitarian chain that got the woman from her home village under heavy shellfire to the boundary fence and then to hospital links guides in Syria to Israeli army paramedics on the frontier, to the doctors and nurses in Tzfat. She was the 177th person to make to the journey to the emergency room in what has become one of the most extraordinary subplots of Syria’s agonizing civil war.”

U.S. Influence Fading in Syria. TIME reports that Syria’s moderate opposition is being further swayed by radical groups who refuse to answer to the West, constricting U.S. influence.

“In yet another sign … seven Islamist groups united on Friday as the Islamic Front, forming what is said to be the largest rebel alliance in Syria,” reports Piotr Zalewski. “‘This independent political, military and social formation aims to topple the Assad regime completely and build an Islamic state where the sovereignty of God almighty alone will be our reference and ruler,’ Ahmed Eissa, commander of the Suqur al-Sham brigades, one of the groups that joined the front, said in a statement posted online.”

The move “comes as a major blow to the Western-backed Syrian Coalition and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which have already been weakened by internecine strife and clashes with al-Qaida affiliates. It is also expected to further erode the West’s appetite for assisting the rebels and undermine efforts at bringing the Syrian regime and the opposition to the negotiating table.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team: 

BBC: Geneva Peace Talks Set for January

Daily Beast: How I Escaped Assad’s Army in Syria

Al Jazeera: Ahmet Uzumcu: ‘Destroying Syria’s Weapons’