The Al Nusrah Front said it would obey al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri’s directive to stop fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, unless the latter attacks first. About 60,000 Syrians are said to have fled towns in Homs since April 30 to escape clashes between Al Nusrah and Islamic fighters pitted against ISIS, in which 62 militants have died. Al Nusrah detained Ahmad al Na’ma, the rebel commander for Deraa, along with four other rebel commanders, on charges they surrendered the town of Kherbet Ghazala to regular forces; al Na’ma had recently claimed that a democratic FSA, not “extremists,” would control Syria. The Islamic Front shelled the Nasib border crossing in Deraa. Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Reef Dimashq; in Aleppo near the central prison; and in Latakia, where they were joined by Ansar Al Sham, Sham Al Islam, Al Sham legion, Abna’a Al Kadesyyi brigade, and Shamena group. The Islamic Front also clashed with regime forces in Homs, Idlib, and Damascus. The ISIS killed regime forces in a suicide truck bombing in Hama; clashed with Kurdish YPG forces in Ayn al-Arab in Aleppo; battled regime forces in Homs; and clashed with Al Nusrah and Islamic fighters in Raqqah near Deir Izzour.
