Al-Qaeda has renounced ties with a powerful militant group active in Iraq and Syria. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had previously ordered the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to disband and return to Iraq, endorsing the Nusra Front as the group’s official branch in Syria. Fighting between rebel factions in Syria has reportedly killed more than 2,000 people this year alone. The Iraqi government, meanwhile, says its army and allied tribesmen killed 57 ISIL fighters in Anbar province on Monday.