President Assad was sworn in for a third term; he called for “national reconciliation” but ruled out talks with the exiled opposition, and vowed to retake Aleppo and Raqqah. Regime forces battled the Islamic State near the Kweris military airport in Aleppo, carried out an airstrike on an IS-held area in Hasakah, and bombarded an IS headquarters in Raqqah. Over 100 Kurds from Turkey have come to help YPG fighters repel the IS advance in Kobani. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front clashed with regime forces in Hama near Morek, where regime planes carried out 25 air raids; in Deraa; in Idlib; in Latakia; in Reef Dimashq near Mleha and the Lebanese town of Arsal, in Qalamoun, Zebdin, and Duma; and in Aleppo by the central prison and elsewhere. The IS fought against Al Nusrah and the Islamic Front in the northeastern Aleppo countryside. The Islamic Front also battled regime forces in Quneitra, Damascus, Idlib, and Deraa.
