Al-Qaeda Chief Zawahiri calls for putting an end for clashes between Jihadists in Syria

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called for putting an end to clashes between al-Qaeda-linked jihadists and Islamists fighting to topple Syrian president Bachar al-Assad, in an audio message that went viral on the Internet.

Zawahiri urged "every free person in Syria seeking to overthrow President Bachar al-Assad to end the fighting between brothers in jihad and Islam immediately," in the recording uploaded on YouTube late on Wednesday.

A new front in Syria's three-year-old conflict opened in January when rebel groups combined to attack bases of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

The jihadists were initially welcomed by other rebels, but allegations of brutal abuses against civilians as well as rival opposition fighters sparked  criticism, and even accusations that they were serving the interests of the regime.

Most rebels in Syria are Sunni Arab, and have fought against the regime of Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.