President Assad said disposal of Syria’s chemical weapons would take about a year and cost $1 billion. He strongly denied that his government was behind the Aug. 21 gas attack, and said Syria is committed to the US-Russian agreement for the surrender of Syria’s chemical arsenal. Syria gave Russia materials said to implicate the rebels for the gas attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant reportedly detained two doctors in Aleppo and killed one of them. ISIL stormed the town of Azaz near a Turkish border crossing in Aleppo, killing five Free Syrian Army fighters and arresting 100 people; the FSA brigade asked the Al Tawheed Brigade to mediate. ISIL executed an Alawite man in Raqqah. Regime and Hezbollah forces clashed with rebels near Damascus airport. ISIL recently released photos of its fighters training and firing mortars in Ghouta in Damascus.
