Hezbollah and al-Qaida Clash on Syria-Lebanon Frontier

Reuters reports that Hezbollah and Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, have been fighting a deadly five-day battle near the Syria-Lebanon border with Lebanon.

Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militant group, has fought alongside Assad troops since last summer. A Nusra fighter said Hezbollah had lost “many fighters” during this week’s clashes in the Qalamoun mountains. A Hezbollah source says the group lost nine fighters.

On Wednesday, fighters from the group tried to enter Syria from the border and were ambushed by Nusra. “We saw them trying to sneak in,” one Nusra fighter tells the wire. “We waited for them, and when they arrived and before they were able to load their guns or rocket-propelled grenades, we attacked. Some of them escaped.”

ISIS Takes Gas Field From Assad Government

Reuters reports that ISIS seized a Syrian gas field controlled by the regime and killed at least 23 people on Thursday in “one of the bloodiest clashes between the al-Qaida offshoot and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.”

It’s one of the bigger gains for ISIS in Syria in recent weeks, as the group seizes territory from its rivals using weapons taken during its June offensive in Iraq. Reuters writes: “Activists say the Syrian air force has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on positions held by [ISIS]. On Thursday morning, the group launched an attack against the Sha’ar gas field east of Homs, killing at least 23 of the men guarding it in a ‘wide assault’ from several directions.”

Syria Kurds Impose Mandatory Military Service

Al Jazeera reports that the largest Syrian Kurdish territory has imposed a compulsory military service for adult men, in the face of a push by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria into the Kurdish north. It will require the men to serve six months of “self-defense” duty.

“The move reflects fears among Syrian Kurds that the ongoing offensive by [ISIS] in their region may potentially reverse gains made by their ethnic minority in the past three years,” the network says. “Juan Mohammed, a spokesman for the Kurdish city of Qamishli, said on Thursday Jazira, the largest of the three Syrian Kurdish territories in size and population, adopted the draft law this week.”

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BBC: While Iraq Burns, ISIS Takes Advantage in Syria

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Human Rights Watch: Syrian Activists Not Released Despite Amnesty

Reuters: Syria Aid Deliveries Ready , Rushing to Put Monitors in Place: UN