The emir of al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri, told the Al Nusrah Front to stop fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and urged ISIS to concentrate its efforts in Iraq. ISIS clashed with Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front in Deir Izzour. Rebels led by the Islamic Front overran an abandoned chemical base at Khan Abu Shammal in Reef Dimashq and clashed with regime forces near Sayqal air base, where remaining Syrian chemical weapons are believed to be held. Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Hama, Aleppo, Idlib, and Reef Dimashq, where, together with Union of Ajnad Al sham, they have seized large areas of Jaraman. The Islamic Front agreed to a ceasefire and a retreat from the beseiged city of old Homs. Britain said it plans to resume shipment of nonlethal aid to the Syrian rebels; it was suspended in December when the Islamic Front seized Free Syrian Army warehouses and the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. The heads of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Coalition plan to visit the US next week to ask for sophisticated weapons.
