– UN endorses peace process for Syria; no mention of Assad
– Syrian demands halt of Russian air strikes part of truce; HRW reports use of cluster munition
– Iraq Defense Minister predicts Ramadi victory by year’s end; ISIS traps residents
– Iraq welcomes Turkish withdrawal announcement
– Turkey military offensive kills 110 Kurdish fighters; Turkey’s pro-Kurdish leader to visit Moscow
– ISIS stole ‘tens of thousands’ of blank passports
– Thousands attend funeral of Lebanese fighter killed in Syria

UN endorses peace process for Syria; no mention of Assad
The UN Security Council’s (UNSC) unanimous support of a peace process for Syria that is set to begin next month with government-opposition talks and a ceasefire represents its strongest gesture yet in support of a solution to the civil war. The UNSC adoption of a resolution on Friday comes amid a growing sense that the top priority in Syria should be the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), which has exploited the country’s years of chaos and created a base from which it promotes deadly attacks abroad. US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the world is going to see in the next few months whether the peace process actually takes hold. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the plan a “great step forward,” and the Arab League backed it, with its Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi saying the resolution “offers a chance for the first time to find a serious solution to the crisis in Syria.” Pope Francis also welcomed the plan, saying, “I encourage everyone to continue energetically down the path to an end of violence and a negotiated solution for peace.” However, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, “There must be safeguards regarding the exit of Bashar al-Assad.” Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said it will maintain its support for Assad, though it will also “support inter-Syrian dialogue.” [AP, Reuters, NYT, 12/20/2015]

Syrian demands halt of Russian air strikes part of truce; HRW reports use of cluster munition
Syria’s main opposition coalition said on Friday that achieving a ceasefire by January 1 was unrealistic and demanded that Russia halt air strikes as part of the new truce. Syrian National Coalition’s (SNC) envoy to the United Nations Najib Ghadbian said opposition groups need “a month or so” to prepare for political talks that would begin in tandem with a ceasefire, calling the timetables unrealistic. A key issue for the SNC is whether the ceasefire will apply to Russia’s air campaign, which began in late September in support of President Bashar al-Assad. “Russian attacks continue to target everything and anything but ISIS,” said Ghadbian. On Sunday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that Russian allies have been making “extensive” use of cluster munitions, with use on 20 occasions killing at least 35 civilians since the start of Russian air strikes in Syria. Also on Sunday, BBC reported that at least 43 people have been killed in a series of recent Russian air strikes in the northern Syrian city of Idlib. [AFP, 12/20/2015]

Iraq Defense Minister predicts Ramadi victory by year’s end; ISIS traps residents
Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi predicted Saturday that security forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes would retake full control of the city of Ramadi by the end of the year. “I met with the Joint Operations Command and they confirmed to me that we will regain all of the city of Ramadi by the end of this month,” he said. Earlier this month, forces led by Iraq’s elite counterterrorism service retook Al-Tameem, a southwestern neighborhood of Ramadi from the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). However, after Iraqi military planes dropped leaflets on Sunday asking residents to leave within 72 hours, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Naseer Nuri reported Monday that ISIS is “preventing families from leaving,” as they “plan to use them as human shields.” [AFP, 12/21/2015]

Iraq welcomes Turkish withdrawal announcement
Baghdad on Sunday welcomed Turkey’s move to pull troops out of northern Iraq but said it would keep up efforts at the United Nations to achieve a full withdrawal. “What has been reported in the media is a step in the right direction,” Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was quoted as saying in a statement from his office. “We will carry on our process with the [UN] Security Council until a full withdrawal is achieved,” he added. Turkey announced on Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops following a call from US President Barack Obama. [AFP, 12/21/2015]

Turkey military offensive kills 110 Kurdish fighters; Turkey’s pro-Kurdish leader to visit Moscow
Armed clashes persisted Sunday across Turkey’s southeast, where an operation by Turkish forces intensified on the sixth day of a campaign that security sources said had resulted in the death of 110 Kurdish militants. Protests erupted in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the country’s south east, with hundreds demonstrating against the military operations. Police fired tear gas and plastic bullets to disperse the crowds. Most of the fighting took place in Cizre and Silopi, towns near the Iraqi and Syrian borders that have been under curfew for almost a week. Nusaybin and Dargecit in the border province of Mardin and the historical Sur district of Diyarbakir have also seen fierce battles. Meanwhile, the leader of Turkey’s opposition pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas will meet Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow for talks aimed at reducing tensions after the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish forces, the party said Monday. The trip by a key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be the first by a high profile Turkish figure to Russia since the shooting-down of the Russian Su-24 warplane led to a crisis in the two countries’ ties unprecedented since the Cold War. [Reuters, 12/21/2015]

ISIS stole ‘tens of thousands’ of blank passports
ISIS may have stolen “tens of thousands” of blank passports that it could use to smuggle its fighters into Europe as refugees, a German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported Sunday citing Western intelligence sources. According to the report, ISIS could have acquired the stolen travel documents in areas of Syria, Iraq, and Libya it now controls. European authorities have repeatedly warned of the potential threat posed by refugees travelling with counterfeit documents. [AFP, 12/20/2015]

Thousands attend funeral of Lebanese fighter killed in Syria
Thousands of people have gathered in a Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut for the funeral of Samir Kantar, a high-profile militant who the group says was killed by an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital on Saturday. Hezbollah said Kantar, who spent 30 years in an Israeli prison for murder, was killed along with eight others in the air strike on a residential building in Jaramana, close to Damascus. Hezbollah pledged to avenge his killing, sparking fears of escalation in a volatile region. Supporters of the group walked behind his coffin, which was draped in a yellow Hezbollah flag, at the funeral Monday. “Death to Israel,” the men shouted as women threw rice and rose petals at the coffin. [AP, 12/21/2015]