Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of the Al Nusrah Front, is said to be moving freely between the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. Al Nusrah and the Liwa al Tawhid brigade are reported to be the main rebel groups defending Aleppo from attacks by both regime forces and the Islamic State. Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front battled the IS in Aleppo; and clashed with regime forces in Quneitra, and in Reef Dimashq near the Lebanese border and in Ghouta. Heavy fighting took place in Kobani between the Islamic State and Kurdish YPG forces; an IS emir from Egypt was killed in clashes with the YPG in the Ayn al Arab countryside. Nour Kholouf, acting defense minister of the Syrian National Coalition, has asked for US backing for a plan to oust the Islamic State from Raqqah and up to the Iraqi border; he also claimed that the US is giving lethal aid directly to the commanders of 16 or 17 rebel groups but not to the rebels’ civilian leadership itself.
