Thousands flee Syria rebel infighting, moderate commander arrested - monitoring group

Rebel fighters are deployed in Bureij neighbourhood of Aleppo April 30, 2014. REUTERS/Jalal Al-Mamo

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Fighting between al Qaeda's Syria branch and a splinter group in eastern Syria has forced more than 60,000 people to flee their homes, emptied villages and killed scores of fighters, a monitoring group said.

Fighters from the al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front, also arrested a rebel commander from a more moderate group and several other insurgent leaders in a southern province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.