In response to weeks of rocket attacks in the province of Kilis at its border with Syria, Turkey carried out an attack on militants of the so-called Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, Friday, using rocket launchers and artillery fire, Turkish media reported Saturday.
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Meanwhile, Syrian Army warplanes and helicopters hit other opposition-held towns in Aleppo province, putting a further strain on rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. They also demonstrated the IS group’s ability to stage major offensives and capture new areas, despite a string of recent losses in Syria and Iraq.
But, he said, the Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting IS north of its de facto Syrian capital had as yet made no strategic progress on the ground. That has been a lifeline for the rebels since 2012, but a government offensive backed by Russian air power and regional militias earlier this year dislodged rebels from parts of Azaz and severed their corridor between the Turkish border and Aleppo.
In a sign of the rebels’ weak position, they handed over the village of Sheikh Issa adjoining Marea to rival Kurdish forces to facilitate safe passage for those fleeing, an activist based on the Syrian-Turkish border, Ammar Jello, said.
“We are terribly concerned about the fate of our hospital and our patients, and about the estimated 100,000 people trapped between the Turkish border and active frontlines”, Pablo Marco, MSF operations manager for the Middle East, said in a statement.
It brought the jihadists to within 5 km (3 miles) of Azaz, a town near the border with Turkey through which insurgents have been supplied. At least 30 rebel fighters and nine civilians have been killed during the offensive, according to the monitoring group.
The ultra-hardline group has been fighting against rebels in the area for several months.
A Syrian NGO operating in the area said the latest assault by IS had displaced 20,000 more people towards Turkey.
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It said the airstrikes and artillery fire also destroyed seven buildings used as ISIS headquarters.
