40 fighters of Nusra Front join ISIS: monitoring group

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 40 fighters of Nusra Front have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, defecting al-Qaeda wing in Syria to fight US- led coalition with the mother group, monitoring body said on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said it was informed that no less than 40 fighters from jabhat al-Nusra, including an Emir who retired from fighting in al-Nusra side, have joined the ISIS in the past days and moved into al-Bab city which is one of the main the bastions of the ISIS in Syria northeast of Aleppo.

The U.S.-led air strikes on ISIS bastions have pushed loyalists of the extremists group to fight under its banner, activists said.

Islamic State, which declared a "caliphate" in June in parts of Iraq and Syria under its control, has been cited as a major security threat by Western governments.

Meanwhile, Islamic State had responded to U.S. attacks by intensifying its assault on the city of Kobani near the Turkish border in northern Syria, where 240,000 civilians have fled in recent days in the fastest exodus of the three-year civil war, according to Reuters.

More than 191,000 people killed and over 10 million forced to flee their homes.

(Editing by Ridha Ali)

Zaman Al Wasl