Gunmen from the Al Nusrah Front and the Free Syrian Army took over the Al Qaim crossing in Iraq’s Anbar province, entering from the Syrian side of the crossing, which they controlled. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Hama and Reef Dimashq. The Islamic Front also clashed with regime forces in Deraa and Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights expressed concern that some 145 Kurdish schoolchildren kidnapped by the the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham would be used as suicide bombers. Regime forces reportedly withdrew several Iraqi pro-regime militants from al-Mleiha in Reef Dimashq and eased the military assault on the area after ISIS took over Mosul in Iraq. State media claimed that nearly 1,000 people have been freed in Damascus under a recent amnesty.
