A new UN report accuses the Assad regime of using siege tactics against civilians and deplores the “absolute impunity that pervades the conflict,” in which both sides are guilty of massacres and other crimes. Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the UN inquiry committee on Syria, said it was “likely” that the perpetrators of the Aug. 21 sarin gas attack in Ghouta had access to regime stockpiles, and also said “at least several hundred people were affected” by the attacks. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front continued to clash with regime, NDF, and Hezbollah forces in Aleppo. Gunmen killed an Algerian fighter from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham in Raqqah. In Hasakah, Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front took over parts of Markada after fighting ISIS for weeks. The Islamic Front battled regime forces in Homs and in Hama. An ISIS suicide bomber detonated in the home of a commander linked to Al Nusrah in Deir Izzour, killing a child.
