Syrian extremists seen as close to ISIS battled a rival hard-line Islamist faction Monday in northwestern Syria, activists and an official with another insurgent group said, in an escalating power struggle.
Jund al-Aqsa and Tahrir al-Sham clashed around Kafr Zeita in the countryside north of Hama, and near Tamanaa, Khan Sheikhoun and Tal Aaas in southern Idlib Province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned Britain-based war monitor.
An official with a rebel group that fights under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which was not involved in Monday's confrontations, confirmed the fighting.
The main conflict in Syria's civil war pits President Bashar Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and Shiite militias, against an array of rebel groups aiming to oust him, including some that have been backed by the U.S., Turkey and Gulf monarchies.
Since the army took Aleppo in December, some of the many armed groups in the northwest have consolidated into factions that are now fighting each other for control of territory and resources.
Tahrir al-Sham was formed in January from a merger of Syria's former branch of Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, along with several other Islamist groups
Jund al-Aqsa and Fatah al-Sham fell out late last year despite having previously aligned with each other, and insurgent sources and the Observatory say Jund al-Aqsa's ideology is closer to that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda's main extremist rival.
Both Tahrir al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa are also fighting against an alliance of another Islamist group, Ahrar al-Sham, and rebel factions fighting under the FSA banner. Extremist groups attacked the FSA for sending delegates to peace talks in Kazakhstan last month.
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