Fierce clashes between jehadis and Islamist rebels near Damascus left at least 40 dead and 70 wounded on Friday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes pitted the Saudi-backed rebel faction Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) against Fateh al-Sham, Al-Qaeda's former branch in Syria, and Faylaq al-Rahman, which is backed by Qatar and Turkey. “There were at least 15 dead among the ranks of Jaish al-Islam and 23 among its adversaries” as well as two civilians, the Britain-based Observatory said.