A new report estimates that militants in Syria have several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles, which are easily smuggled out of the country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State gained 6,300 recruits in Syria in July alone. The Islamic State clashed with regime forces in Raqqah, where the IS reopened the road linking Tal-Abyad and al-Raqqa city, and prepared to launch an offensive against the military airport in Al Tabaqa, the last regime stronghold in the province; battled YPG forces in Hasakah, where the IS executed four people and took over the border town of Jaz’a; fought against regime, YPG, Islamic Front, and Jabhat al-Akrad forces in Aleppo; and executed and crucified two “apostates” in Deir Izzour, where it also clashed with regime forces near the military airport. The Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic Front, and rebels fought against regime forces in Hama, and in Reef Dimashq in Qalamoun. Hezbollah fighters in Qalamoun killed Islamic State official Abu Abdullah al Iraqi, who planned suicide and other bomb attacks in Lebanon. The Islamic Front also battled regime forces in Deir Izzour, Hama, Idlib, and Reef Dimashq.
