Damascus: Syrian rebels laid siege to jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in their northern stronghold Monday, hoping to crush the Al Qaida affiliate accused of widespread abuses.
A broad coalition of moderates and Islamists opposed to President Bashar Al Assad is seeking to drive Isil — which is accused of kidnapping, torturing and killing rival rebels and civilians — from its stronghold in the northern city of Raqqa.
The new front in Syria’s increasingly complex civil war opened less than three weeks away from a planned peace conference, for which the United Nations has started sending out invitations, excluding Al Assad’s ally Iran.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels in Raqqa managed to free 50 Syrian prisoners held by the Sunni extremists, who are believed to be holding hundreds of prisoners, including foreign journalists.
Raqqa is the only provincial capital lost by the regime since the conflict began in March 2011 with peaceful protests demanding democratic reform but escalated into a full-blown war when Al Assad’s forces launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.
The city later fell into the hands of Isil, the latest incarnation of Al Qaida’s Iraq affiliate, which joined the fight against the regime in late spring 2013. The rebels initially welcomed the battle-hardened jihadists, but tensions mounted as Isil was accused of imposing a reign of terror in areas where it operates, especially Raqqa.
Three powerful rebel alliances on Friday launched what activists called a second “revolution,” and have advanced quickly, expelling Isil from checkpoints and bases across Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces.
The Observatory said the main group besieging Isil’s Raqqa headquarters is Al Nusra Front, which is also affiliated with Al Qaida but is seen as less extreme and has long competed with Isil to represent the global terror network in Syria. Isil has struck back, including with a car bombing at a rebel checkpoint in Darkush, Idlib that killed an unknown number of fighters on Monday, the Britain-based Observatory said.
In Aleppo, a 16-year-old Isil suicide attacker detonated himself at a rebel checkpoint, killing one opposition fighter and wounding several more. A key complaint among the rebels fighting Isil is that the self-styled Islamic state sought hegemony over areas under its control, while activists and rights groups accused it of torturing and killing its rivals, including with public executions.
On Monday, the body of a decapitated child was found near Isil’s headquarters in Kafranbel, Idlib, the Observatory said. The rebel side also committed abuses, executing two Isil fighters and burning one of their bodies in the Haydariyeh district of Aleppo, “in front of neighbourhood residents”, the group added.
