BEIRUT (AFP) – More than a week of inter-rebel fighting in Syria’s Turkish-held north has killed 58 people, mostly combatants – a flareup that has allowed Al-Qaeda-linked fighters to gain ground, a war monitor said yesterday.
The clashes since October 8, in a volatile area near the Turkish border, have been among the deadliest in years, killing 48 rebel fighters and 10 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Among the 48 combatants killed, 28 were members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance (HTS), which is led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate, according to the Britain-based war monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.
Dozens of rebel groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad are confined to areas of northern and northwestern Syria that still evade government control after more than a decade of war.
The latest fighting started this month between two rival pro-Turkish rebel groups in the town of Al-Bab in Aleppo province before spreading to other areas and drawing in other factions, including HTS.
