“Clashes took place between rebel and Islamist factions and a group of fighters who it is not known whether they were members of Islamic State sleeper cells or whether they were able to break into Mare’ city”, said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on local activists for information.
Advertisement
“The main goal for taking the village is to tighten the noose around Marea which is considered a reservoir for groups that are against the Islamic State“, Abdulrahman said.
The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front says it has quit frontline positions against Islamic State north of Aleppo and ceded them to other rebels, leaving an area of northern Syria where Turkey wants to set up a buffer zone.
Maloof, however, said that that there is something fishy about this move as it “was long overdue but it also reflects something a little more insidious as far as the United States and Turkey are concerned with respect to dealing with Syria itself”.
Reuters reports that Nusra Front isn’t going quietly.
The safe zone would have “positive effects, from the humanitarian, military, and political perspectives that will serve the interests of both countries”, the group’s online statement said.
The two countries agreed last month on a prospective IS-free zone along border. “We supported only those who escaped from Assad’s atrocities – chemical weapons, barrel bombs”, he said. The rebels launch nearly daily attacks at the Turkish security forces, while Turkish jets have raided suspected workers’ party bases in northern Iraq.
The air offensive against IS continued overnight, with U.S.-led forces conducting 16 air strikes in Iraq and seven in Syria.
Turkey and the United States have agreed on terms of a “safe zone” in northern Syria, broadcaster CNN Turk quoted a senior Turkish diplomat as saying on Tuesday, a step forward in a slow-moving joint campaign against Islamic State (IS).
Al Nusra Front said the Turkish government’s plan to establish a buffer zone aimed to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state at its southeastern border.
Officials are looking at whether the 70 rebels now in training should be sent back to a safer area inside Turkey where that Al Qaeda group may not be located.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, however, Tuesday condemned the Turkish army’s cross-border campaign, urging Ankara to recognise its neighbour Iraq’s sovereignty, in remarks Turkey labelled “unacceptable”.
Whereas many insurgent leaders used to fall beneath one umbrella group, the Free Syrian Military, they lately separated into two teams and have been duking it out for land and energy.
Advertisement
“The US Air Force deployed a small detachment – six F-16 Fighting Falcons, support equipment and about 300 personnel”, US European Command said in a statement.
