Amman: A group of Western-backed Syrian rebels said on Tuesday they had killed three foreign fighters -- two Saudis and a Tunisian -- with Daesh in an undercover raid into an area under the control of the terrorists.
An alliance of rebel groups known as Jabhat Al Shamiya (Levant Front) operating in the northern Aleppo countryside near the border with Turkey said the operation was conducted by their clandestine security unit and was the first of its kind.
They pledged further such commando strikes in the future.
“We promise Al Baghdadi (leader of Daesh) more of these security operations in the heart of areas under the control of his fighters,” a statement by the Levant Front said.
The region has witnessed intensified fighting in Syria’s civil war between Western-backed rebels and Daesh terrorists who have gained further ground, threatening the fall of most of the northern countryside of Aleppo into their hands.
Daesh has now encircled the rebel-held town of Marea, 20 km from the Turkish border, an area that also falls within a “safe zone” Turkey said last month it would set up in northern Syria to help keep Daesh at bay.
Daesh have since May made advances that threaten a major supply route used by rival rebels into the city of Aleppo.
On Tuesday, Western-backed rebels accused Daesh of firing at least 15 mustard gas mortars during heavy shelling of Marea. A loss of Marea would make it harder for Turkey and the United States to open a new front in the region against Daesh in coordination with rival rebels on the ground.
Western-backed rebels have sent in reinforcements from other parts of Aleppo province to try to beat back the terrorists, according to a Levant Front fighter.
Daesh holds large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq, and has advanced in other areas of Syria in recent months, capturing the central city of Palmyra.
The terrorist group is fighting rival insurgents, the Syrian military and Kurdish regional forces alike in Syria’s four-year-old civil war.
