A May 3 message from al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri was posted on jihadist forums, calling for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham to leave Syria and fight in Iraq, and urging clashing jihadists in Syria to submit to an independent sharia court. A three-day truce near Homs city went into effect yesterday between regime forces and rebels. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Deraa; Latakia; Reef Dimashq; and Aleppo, where they were joined by Al Jabha Al Islameyya and Jaysh Al Muhajireen. The Islamic Front also clashed with regime forces in Idlib and Hama. The ISIS fought against regime forces in Aleppo, and in Raqqah, where they were also targeted by Islamic Front fighters. In Deir Izzour, two Al Nusrah suicide car bombings at ISIS checkpoints killed 11 ISIS fighters and two civilians. State media claimed that the rebel mortar attack on a pro-Assad campaign rally in Deraa killed 39 people and injured 205 more, most of them civilians.
