Reports carried on Syrian state news channels Wednesday said government troops had gained control over a major road in Aleppo province that had previously been held by militants from "Islamic State" (IS).

The claims were backed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in England.

"The clashes continue between the two sides 1 kilometer [0.6 miles] away from the road in an attempt by the regime to secure the road completely," a statement on the organization's website said.

The road links central Syria to the city of Aleppo (pictured above), and regaining control means government forces are connected to the territory they control in Aleppo. The gain in territory is a significant win for President Bashar Assad's regime, which started a widespread ground assault in coordination with Russian airstrikes that began on September 30.

http://www.dw.com/en/syrian-government-forces-defeat-is-along-key-supply-road/a-18826222

WASHINGTON — Two top U.S. diplomats said Wednesday that 85 to 90 percent of Russian air strikes in Syria have killed moderate opposition forces and civilians and that Moscow’s intervention has done little to stop Islamic State militants.

The State Department officials testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee where both Democratic and Republican members maintained that the current U.S. policy in Syria is too limited.

The hearing follows the White House’s announcement last week that it was deploying as many as 50 special operations forces to Syria and Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent meetings in Vienna to chart a political transition to the conflict, which has killed 225,000 Syrians and caused more than 4 million to become refugees.

“Russia’s military intervention has dangerously exacerbated an already complex environment,” said Anne Patterson, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, adding that Russian airstrikes predominately have targeted areas where Islamic State militants are not present.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/u-s-diplomats-russian-strikes-halted-islamic-state/

Evelyn Farkas, who stepped down last week as the Pentagon’s top policy official for Russia and Ukraine, says the U.S. should open a military base in Eastern Europe to send a message to Vladimir Putin.

http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/11/obama-should-have-given-weapons-ukraine-says-former-pentagon-russia-official/123400/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two top U.S. diplomats said Wednesday that 85 to 90 percent of Russian air strikes in Syria have killed moderate opposition forces and civilians and that Moscow's intervention has done little to stop Islamic State militants.

The State Department officials testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee where both Democratic and Republican members maintained that the current U.S. policy in Syria is too limited.

The hearing follows the White House's announcement last week that it was deploying as many as 50 special operations forces to Syria and Secretary of State John Kerry's recent meetings in Vienna to chart a political transition to the conflict, which has killed 225,000 Syrians and caused more than 4 million to become refugees.

"Russia's military intervention has dangerously exacerbated an already complex environment," said Anne Patterson, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, adding that Russian airstrikes predominately have targeted areas where Islamic State militants are not present.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNITED_STATES_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-04-11-55-25

The Pentagon's former top Russia policy expert, who stepped down last week, says she worked behind the scenes to get the Obama administration to take a harder line with Moscow over its forays into Ukraine and Syria but was overruled — and remains concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will test the U.S. and its allies in other places.

Evelyn Farkas, who served as deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia until last Friday, made clear in an exit interview with reporters on Wednesday that her departure "was not motivated by policy differences.”

But she said she advocated, unsuccessfully, for the administration to do more to deter Russia, including providing “lethal, defensive assistance to Ukraine, primarily anti-tank weapons.”

She also said that the administration should review its force posture in Europe and consider putting more troops further east and that top U.S. officials should spend more time in the region.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/evelyn-farkas-russia-pentagon-215517

when it comes to foreign policy.

It is one thing to be simple, and another thing to be belligerent about it. They spend all day long trying to cultivate an elevated image for us internationally and then blow it in an instant with schoolyard bullying. And it is an old habit in certain parts.

Thank you Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, members of this committee for the opportunity to join you and my colleague, Assistant Secretary Anne Patterson today.

While Syria is in Anne’s area of responsibility, the conflict there increasingly imperils Turkey, the EU and the rest of Europe as refugees stream out of Syria and head both north and south. Russia’s new direct combat role in Syria has exacerbated an already dangerous refugee outflow, straining even the most generous Europeans’ ability to cope.

Turkey currently hosts 2.2 million refugees and by its account, has invested over $8 billion toward their care and well-being. This year, the Turkish Coast Guard rescued an estimated 68,000 individuals attempting dangerous sea voyages.

Since Russian combat operations began in Syria, Greece recorded its highest weekly migration flow of 2015, with approximately 48,000 refugees and migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece. More than 600,000 individuals have already entered Greece’s maritime borders this year, including 344,953 through the island of Lesvos, an island of just over 86,400 residents.

http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/2015/nov/249170.htm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moscow's military force in Syria has grown to about 4,000 personnel, but this and more than a month of Russian air strikes have not led to pro-government forces making significant territorial gains, U.S. security officials and independent experts said.

Moscow, which has maintained a military presence in Syria for decades as an ally of the ruling Assad family, had an estimated 2,000 personnel in the country when it began air strikes on Sept. 30. The Russian force has since roughly doubled and the number of bases it is using has grown, U.S. security officials said.

The Russians have suffered combat casualties, including deaths, said three U.S. security officials familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting, adding that they did not know the exact numbers.

Russia's foreign ministry declined to comment on the size of the Russian contingent in Syria or any casualties it has suffered. It referred questions to the Russian Defense Ministry, which did not respond to written questions submitted by Reuters.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/idCAKCN0ST2G020151104?rpc=401

Iran's Fars news agency is reporting that a senior officer in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was killed in Syria, the fourth Iranian commander to die there in the last month. Colonel Mostafa Ezzatollah Soleimani died during an "advisory mission" near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Fars said on November 3.

http://www.payvand.com/news/15/nov/1022.html

AMMAN: One day after dozens of airstrikes damaged a hospital and other civilian infrastructure in the Islamic State-held city of A-Raqqa, local activists told Syria Direct on Wednesday that civilians remain caught between multiple military campaigns targeting IS.

“The people of A-Raqqa are caught between the knives of IS on the ground and bombardment by coalition, Russian and Syrian planes,” Iskander a-Raqqawi, an activist in the city told Syria Direct on Wednesday.

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Opposition news sites reported that more than 25 airstrikes by "Russian warplanes" on Tuesday struck a mixture of residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure and IS targets. Damage included two bridges south of A-Raqqa, the city’s main hospital and a Hisbah station, or IS religious police, station.

Eleven civilians and four IS fighters were killed in Tuesday’s strikes, Abu Sham a-Raqqa, an activist in the provincial capital told Syria Direct on Wednesday.

http://syriadirect.org/news/water-power-knocked-out-in-a-raqqa-following-dozens-of-air-raids/

WASHINGTON — A newly formed group of U.S.-backed Syrian rebels has driven Islamic State militants out of an expansive region in northeast Syria, a U.S. spokesman in Baghdad said Wednesday.

The Syrian Arab Coalition led an offensive that pushed “several hundred” Islamic State fighters out of the Syrian town of al Hawl near the Iraq border, reclaiming about 255 square kilometers of ground from the militants, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve.

“The Syrian Arab Coalition really fought with valor,” Warren told reporters Wednesday during a video conference at the Pentagon. “They really showed us something here, and we’re pleased by that.”

The offensive, planned and executed by U.S.-vetted leaders of the Syrian Arab Coalition, was part of the efforts that the White House announced Friday to ramp up anti-Islamic State missions in Syria, Warren said. That will include for the first time placing a group of less than 50 special operations troops as advisers in northern Syria and increasing airstrikes, the White House had said.

http://www.stripes.com/news/rebel-coalition-drives-islamic-state-out-of-region-in-northeast-syria-1.377002