The essentials
• Desire for arms control in Syria. Two weeks after taking power, Syria's new strongman, Ahmad al-Chareh, announced on Sunday that all the country's weapons would come under state control.
• Foreign delegations continue to come to Damascus. Ahmad al-Chareh met on Monday with the head of Jordanian diplomacy as well as Qatari and Italian delegations.
• Switzerland at the heart of peacekeeping in the Golan. Patrick Gauchat will act as interim head of the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan, between Israel and Syria. The Federal Council indicated on Friday that it had approved its “temporary provision”.
• Turkey no longer considers HTC a terrorist group. Ankara judges Friday that Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham has made “enormous progress in distancing itself from Al-Qaeda, Daesh and other related radical elements.” The country on Wednesday rejected comments by US President-elect Donald Trump, who called the rebel victory in Syria an “unfriendly takeover” by Ankara.
• Israel speaks of “progress” for an agreement on hostages in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday, “cautiously”, of “progress” towards an agreement on the hostages. Hamas and two other Palestinian groups suggested on Saturday that an agreement for a truce in Gaza was “closer than ever”.
