ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Illustrative image On December 22, 121 fighters of the Ahrar al-Sham Movement from the town of Daar al-Kabira the northern Homs countryside laid down their arms and surrendered to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), according to the Russian Reconciliation Centre in Syria. The Reconciliation Centre said that the fighters agreed to surrender after a joint work between its officers and the Syrian National Reconciliation Committee. The center added that its field commanders continue to negotiate with commanders of different Syrian oppositions groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, Hama and al-Quneitra to extend the ceasefire agreement in Syria. The northern Homs countryside is one of the de-escalation zones that has been established in Syria. However, the de-escalation agreement there has been breached many times by a coalition of the Ahrar al-Sham Movement, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and several US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups. Ahrar al-Sham fighters likely surren

Written by  Shelley Kasli ; Originally appeared at  GGI News Just days after GreatGameIndia exposed how  American and Japanese companies could be hacking Indian elections , a recent  Bloomberg report  has revealed how a secret unit of Facebook has helped create troll armies for governments around the world including India for digital propaganda to influence elections. Under fire for Facebook Inc.’s role as a platform for political propaganda, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has punched back, saying his mission is above partisanship. But Facebook, it turns out, is no bystander in global politics. What he hasn’t said is that his company actively works with political parties and leaders including those who use the platform to stifle opposition—sometimes with the aid of “ troll armies ” that spread misinformation and extremist ideologies. The initiative is run by a little-known Facebook global government and politics team led from Washington by Katie Harbath, a former Republican digital