At least 100 000 people were trapped on Friday along Syria’s border with Turkey after the Islamic State group (ISIS) swept through rebel territory in Aleppo province, rights groups and activists said.
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“Heavy clashes took place overnight between IS fighters and rebels inside the walls of Marea town”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The offensive against the towns of Marea and Azaz threatens to overrun the last swathe of territory in the east of Aleppo province held by non-jihadist rebels and bring IS to the doorstep of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.
ISIS is making gains near Syria’s border with Turkey, seizing a string of villages and trapping tens of thousands of civilians, according to Doctors Without Borders and a Syrian monitoring group.
The Islamic State has also gained ground near the city of Aleppo, where forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and anti-government rebels are entrenched in fighting.
It said fleeing civilians were being caught in the crossfire of the IS offensive, and that they were struggling to get access to food, water and medical services.
Around 160,000 people are trapped in Azaz, unable to flee while Turkey’s border remains closed and exit roads have been blocked, the IRC said.
Syria’s war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
Parts are held by the government, parts by non-jihadist rebels, parts by the Kurds and parts by ISIL or its jihadist rival al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra.
Civilians fleeing an Islamic State offensive in northwestern Syria have been prevented by Syrian Kurdish authorities from entering areas under their control in response to rebel shelling of a Kurdish-held area of Aleppo, the United Nations said.
ISIL has tried to advance on both towns for months.
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Forty militants were killed and four Katyusha rocket firing positions, four vehicles, two armored personnel carriers and two ammunition depots were destroyed in operations inside Syria, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on May 29. The private Dogan news agency said one of the rockets landed in a garden close to Gaziantep Airport, but did not cause any injuries or damage.
