The advance also brought them closer to Azaz, a town 6 km (4 miles) from Turkey.
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They also demonstrated the Islamic State’s ability to stage major offensives and capture new areas, despite a string of recent losses in Syria and Iraq.
Human rights groups have warned that the IS advance in Aleppo has left tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trapped along the closed Turkish border. Along with a separate air campaign by fighter planes of the USA -led coalition, the strikes killed a total of 104 ISIS militants inside Syria, the reports said, citing sources in Turkey’s military.
People are “terrified for their lives”, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement.
Marea has always been a bastion for non-jihadist rebel forces who have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s five-year conflict.
It is thought some 15,000 residents remain in Marea.
The coalition is meanwhile backing fighters, including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, in an offensive against IS in the northern countryside of neighbouring Raqqa province, which is home to the group’s de facto capital, Raqqa city.
The ISIS offensive targeting Syrian opposition strongholds near the Turkish border began Thursday night.
Human Rights Watch said around 165,000 civilians are trapped near the Turkish border as a result of the fighting.
“Fleeing civilians are being caught in crossfire and are facing challenges to access medical services, food, water and safety”, it said in a statement Saturday.
Azaz, which hosts tens of thousands of internally displaced people, lies north of Aleppo city, which has been divided between a rebel-held east and government-held west.
A route known as the Azaz corridor links rebel-held eastern Aleppo with Turkey.
In April, Islamic State militants seized another strategic town near the Turkish border from rebel factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.
Syrian government and allied forces are also fighting rebels north of Aleppo.
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Turkish and US-led coalition airstrikes killed 104 Islamic State militants in retaliation for the latest attack on a Turkish border province, Turkish media reported on Saturday, citing military sources.
