Islamist rebels have seized the State of Iraq and Levant's main stronghold in al-Dana town in Idlib province after almost one week of clashes, Syrian Revolution activists said.
Rebel fighters, who seized ISIL’s HQ in Aleppo yesterday, were looking for more gains by expelling al-Qaeda militants from al-Dana, according to sources.
Since Friday, along with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the nascent Mujahedeen Army, the Islamic Front has been engaged in fierce fighting with ISIS in rebel-held areas.
The latest clashes broke out Friday after residents accused ISIL members of killing a doctor in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.
The focus of combat has been in opposition areas in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, but Sunday spread to Hama and Raqqa provinces.
Late Tuesday, an ISIL spokesman said the group would "crush" opposition fighters and warned that it considered members of the opposition National Coalition and the military command of the Free Syrian Army to be "legitimate targets."
ISIL has been accused of horrific abuses in areas where it operates, and also of seeking hegemony by taking key roads and checkpoints from its rivals.
Some Assad opponents have even accused it of serving regime interests.
Syria's armed uprising began as a series of peaceful democracy protests 33 months ago but escalated into a full-blown civil war after Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.
The conflict is estimated to have killed around 130,000 people and displaced millions more.
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