The head of Britain’s MI5 warned that al Qaeda operatives in Syria are planning further mass casualty attacks on Western targets. The Al Nusrah Front blew up the 13th-century tomb of a revered Islamic scholar in Nawa in Deraa province. Members of the Islamic State’s religious police force have been kidnapped in the city of Mayadin in eastern Syria; one of the leaders of the group was found beheaded. The US-led coalition conducted six airstrikes in Syria since Jan. 6; five targeted “fighting positions and a staging area” near Kobane, while one struck “crude oil pumps and well heads” near Al Hasakah.
