“If Syria fails to integrate all armed forces and former opposition groups into its army, it faces an existential challenge of fragmentation and disintegration,” Caroline Rose, director of military and national security priorities at the New Lines Institute, told Al Jazeera.

Despite its defeat in Syria in 2019, IS' sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq, where the extremists once declared their caliphate.

The talks, in Paris, are the latest bid to reduce tensions between two longtime enemies. A deal would help both curry favor with the Trump administration.

An explosion tore through a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs Dec. 26, killing and wounding worshippers in a neighborhood associated with the country’s Alawite Muslim community. Syrian authorities

British and French aircraft struck an underground ISIS facility in Syria believed to be used for weapons storage. RAF Typhoon jets targeted the site north of Palmyra.

Images shared by Syria's state-run news agency showed blood on carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage.

The United States' latest coordinated strikes against ISIS targets comes as Washington signals sustained pressure on the terror group.

Syria has begun circulating new currency bills, a year after Bashar Assad's government fell. Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer said Saturday that the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes has officially started.

The Syrian government and a Kurdish-led militia, both military partners of the U.S., are squaring off as unification talks stall.