Syrian rebels make gains in Jarabulus, north Aleppo

Syrian rebels have made gains in Jarabulus city, north Aleppo, against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), local sources told Zaman Alwasl.

Jarabulus, the city which lies on the western bank of the Euphrates river, has been freed from the ISIL control except the cultural center, the last stronghold for Al Qaeda-affiliated group where the clashes still going on.

Source also said that rebels had freed 70 prisoners were arrested by ISIL.

In relevant development, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Islamist and rebel battalions have taken control of the villages of Kafar Kalbin and Kafra, northern countryside of Aleppo, after clashes with the ISIL.

Last Thursday, rebels overran the Aleppo headquarters of the ISIL, as claims emerged that the Al-Qaeda linked group had massacred prisoners there in cold blood.

Since a fortnight, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the nascent Mujahedeen Army, the Islamic Front has been engaged in fierce fighting with ISIL in rebel-held areas.

The latest clashes broke out after residents accused ISIL members of killing a doctor in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.

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.