U.S. President Barack Obama believes Bashar Assad's backers in Moscow and Tehran may see the writing is on the wall for the Syrian regime, offering rare hope for a resolution to a bloody civil war. Speaking to columnists in the White House Wednesday to sell his nuclear deal with Iran, Obama also offered a glimmer of optimism about the dire situation in Syria, where Friday in the central Syria province of Homs ISIS militants captured dozens of Christian families. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 230 people were kidnapped or detained, including dozens of Christians, some of whom were taken from a church in Qaryatain, the strategically located town captured overnight after heavy fighting with the Syrian army. Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said the Christians were "either kidnapped from checkpoints or raids or from churches." Among those seized were 45 women and 19 children, including 11 families, some of whom were on a militants' wanted list, the Observatory said. There were also hundreds of residents, Muslims and Christians, whose families have lost touch with them since the militants captured the area, according to Abdel-Rahman. According to Robin Wright of the New Yorker, Obama said: "I do think the window has opened a crack for us to get a political resolution in Syria." "Partly because both Russia and Iran, I think, recognize that the trend lines are not good for Assad. Neither of those patrons are particularly sentimental," he was quoted as saying. "They don't seem concerned about the humanitarian disaster that's been wrought by Assad and this conflict over the last several years. But they are concerned about the potential collapse of the Syrian state. And that means, I think, the prospect of more serious discussions than we've had in the past."Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year, has claimed over 240,000 lives. Repeated diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have failed in the early stages. "How to execute an actual transition is very difficult," Obama warned. "The strongest opposition forces on the ground are vicious terrorist organizations that are constantly merging and blending with people who just want to get the yoke of an oppressive regime off their backs," he said. "Being able to sort through what a representative government would look like – one that would give Sunnis inside of Syria a sense of their rightful place at the table, while preserving protections for Alawite and Druze and Christians after so much bloodshed – is going to be tough." He also noted that even if Iran and Russia may see Assad's shortcomings, it "doesn't necessarily mean that Assad recognizes his weaknesses." According to the New Yorker, Obama warned against expecting a breakthrough soon, but noted: "I think the conversations are more serious now than they might have been earlier." ISIS has been gaining ground in the desert areas east and south of Homs after it took over the ancient Roman city of Palmyra last May. The Syrian army has launched a large-scale counteroffensive to recapture the city, which lies in a region where some of Syria's largest gas fields are located, but so far has made no significance advances. An army statement said its forces had targeted "terrorist outposts" in the area and killed scores of militants but did not confirm the capture of the town by the militants. Elsewhere, the U.S. and its coalition partners have carried out an additional 15 airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq, the Command Joint Task Force said in a statement. Six of the strikes, which were conducted Thursday, were in Syria near the cities of Hassakeh, Aleppo, Ain Isa and Deir al-Zor and hit tactical units, fighting positions and equipment. The task force statement said coalition strikes this week had helped the YPG Syrian Kurd forces establish greater control in Hassakeh. In Iraq, nine airstrikes targeted tactical units, vehicles, fighting positions, and weapons near six cities, according to the task force Also Friday, fighters from the Army of Conquest coalition of rebel and Islamist groups seized the Hama town of Qarqour and nearby hills on the border of Idlib province, after violent clashes with regime forces, the Observatory said. The regime forces retreated toward the surrounding Sahl al-Ghab. Field Commander Ali Kanaan, right-hand man of Col. Suheil al-Hassan, was killed during the clashes. Kanaan was also the leader of the Fuhod (Leopards) group, an elite unit in the Syrian army.
