Various Sunni anti-Assad groups say they have made progress towards reestablishing communications with Aleppo. These groups include al-Nusra, which was until recently part of al-Qa'ida.

Al-Nusra has broken formally with al-Qa'ida, but surely has the same Islamist ideology as before. Does that make any difference? It might become friendly with the West, in which case it would resemble Salafi Arabia: still oppressive to anyone ruled by it, especially women, but no longer directly advocating terrorism. This would remove one obstacle to US support for coalitions including al-Nusra. Whether such support in general is a good idea is a different question.

It has the option of rejecting terrorism against Shi'ites in the region. This might show Sunnis in Syria and Iraq a preferable option to PISSI.