Rebels seized a
town in southern Syria from groups loyal to Islamic State just a day
after fighters captured another town from the hardline militants in a
separate insurgent assault in the north, a rebel source and a monitoring
group said. The rebels had
by late on Friday taken control of Tasil in Deraa province that is near
the Jordanian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the source
and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They
drove out fighters from the Yarmouk Martyrs' Brigade and the Muthanna
Movement, which they said were groups loyal to Islamic State. "Our
battle continues against them, until we have cleansed the area of
them," said Abu Ghiath al-Shami, a spokesman for the Alwiyat Seif
al-Sham group that is part of a rebel alliance in the south. He
described the latest attacks against the hardline jihadists as a
"widened campaign against Daesh", using an Arabic acronym for Islamic
State. It was the second blow dealt by insurgents fighting against Islamic State or Islamic State-linked fighters in as many days. In
a separate assault in the north of the country near the Turkish border
on Thursday, rebel forces took over a town that had been the main
stronghold of Islamic State in the northern Aleppo countryside. A cessation of
hostilities agreement in Syria that began on Feb. 27 has slowed fighting
in some areas in western Syria but has not halted the violence. Islamic
State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front are not included in the
truce. The Syrian army and its allies, backed by Russian air power, are separately fighting against Islamic State. Clashes between the government and non-jihadist rebels have continued in some areas during the ceasefire.
Rebels seize Syria town from fighters loyal to Islamic State: rebels, monitor
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.