According to Al Alam reporter on Sunday, militants from the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS), and the so-called Free Syrian Army clashed at Idlib countryside.

Several militants were killed and many were injured during the fighting.

The ISIS militants also clashed with al-Nusra Front gunmen, also affiliated to al-Qaeda, in al-Shidada region near Al-Hasakah in north-east of Syria.

Al-Nusra Front commanding center in Hasakah was completely destroyed in the clashes.

Al-Qaeda linked militants have been key assistants to the western-backed armed groups that have been conducting a massive bloody insurgency in Syria for more than two and a half years.

Over the past months, rivalries and infighting have been on the rise among highly-divided militants operating near Idlib.

However, the United States has recently been drawing lines between what US officials call ‘moderate’ and ‘extremist’ groups.

The distinction was considered after US came under heavy criticism for boosting its military support to Syria militants, which many said was direct help to al-Qaeda terrorists who are fighting to topple the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

A recent study by the British defense consultancy showed that militants fighting against Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, which are fragmented into around 1,000 bands.

As the Syrian government is struggling with internal and external threats of wider conflicts, people in many towns and villages have been forced to live under strict rules imposed by the militant groups.

A US plan to bomb the country over a chemical attack near Syrian capital on August 21 was canceled with Russia’s mediation that sought to ease the tensions by putting Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons under international control.

The offer was widely welcomed both in Syria and other countries that were concerned by US military ambitions and its regional consequences.

SHI/SHI