Father Frans van der Lugt, 75, a Dutch priest who had refused to leave the rebel-held and besieged city of Homs, was killed reportedly by a “masked gunman” in his house. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front clashed with regime forces in Latakia; fought alongside the Jaish al Mujahideen in Aleppo; and battled regime forces in Reef Dimashq near Rankous and Ras al Ein, where an Al Nusrah suicide bomber detonated at a regime checkpoint. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fought against the Islamic Front and Kurdish YPG forces in Aleppo. President Assad claimed that much of the Syrian conflict will be over by the end of the year. Al Nusrah berated a top-tier jihadist forum for siding with ISIS, and cited al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri in support of its position.
