LATEST: Insurgent In-Fighting: After Victories, Jabhat al-Nusra Announces New Ceasefire with Syrian Revolutionary Front

The Islamic State has launched an offensive on the Assad regime’s Tiyas Airbase and the surrounding area in central Syria.

Reports say that the jihadists have taken parts of Highway 3, threatening regime supplies not only to Palmyra but also to Deir Ez Zor in eastern Syria. That would counter and even push back the Syrian military’s current operations against the Islamic State in Deir Ez Zor province, which had made some gains in the past week.

The assault follows unconfirmed reports that the Islamic State moved into the al-Shaer gas fields, with the Syrian Army suffering numerous casualties.

TIYAS SYRIA FIGHTING

The Islamic State briefly took the gas fields this summers, reportedly killing hundreds of regime forces and staff, before withdrawing as they concentrating on their control of parts of northern Syria and most of the east.


Insurgent In-Fighting: After Victories, Jabhat al-Nusra Announces New Ceasefire with Syrian Revolutionary Front

The Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra has announced a new ceasefire with the Syrian Revolutionary Front after it pushed the group out of areas of Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

Joined by Jund al-Aqsa, Jabhat al-Nusra called on Syrian Revolutionary Front to appear before a Sharia court to resolve disputes.

The Islamist faction pushed the Syrian Revolutionary Front out of the Jabal al-Zawiya region, including the group’s base in the village of Deir Sonbol, on Saturday.

A Jabhat al-Nusra fighter said the victory came as SRF members had defected from the leadership of the controversial Jamal Maarouf: “They left him because they knew he was wrong and delusional. He left his fighters in the battle and pulled out.”

Maarouf — who had earlier denounced Jabhat al-Nusra as deviant, under Iranian control, and the same as the enemy Islamic State and/or the Assad regime — posted a video declaring his group would return to their bases: “I [want to] clarify why we pulled out of the villages of Jabal al-Zawiya. [It is] so that we preserve civilian blood because this group does not hesitate to kill civilians.”

See Syria Video: Battle Within Insurgency — Syrian Revolutionary Front’s Leader Denounces “Broken” Jabhat al-Nusra

Video: Insurgents Holding Out Against Regime in al-Waer Section of Homs

Claimed footage of insurgents fighting in the Homs district of al-Waer:

Insurgents evacuated other areas of Homs, Syria’s 3rd-largest city, this spring after a protracted regime siege and long negotiations.

However, the Syrian military has been unable to push them out of al-Waer, a crowded distract which is home to tens of thousands of displaced Syrians, despite steady aerial bombardment.

Videos: The Fight for Jobar in Northeast Damascus

The months-long fight for Jobar in northeast Damascus continues, with the regime carrying out about a dozen airstrikes on Friday:

Insurgents, who have held the area against repeated regime assaults, fire at an armored vehicle:

Insurgents firing on Syrian forces:

Insurgents also continued their clashes with regime forces in Hawsh al-Farah, which the opposition captured earlier this week, in the East Ghouta area near the capital: