21st November, 2015
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that opposition rebels had regained two northern villages close to the Turkish border from the Islamic State insurgents.
The monitoring group said that the recapture of the villages of Dalhah and Harjala on the northern outskirts of Aleppo province followed heavy fighting between rebels and the insurgents.
“This is an important development because it showed that Islamic State is losing ground in areas near the Syrian-Turkish border,” the group’s head, Rami Abdel-Rahman said.
Islamic State has advanced in areas held by moderate rebels in the countryside of Aleppo, including the villages of Dalhah and Harjala since August.
In recent months, the al-Qaeda splinter group has made territorial gains in several parts of Syria.
A US-led coalition and Russia have separately stepped up airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria in the past weeks, after the radical group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks around the world.
At least 36 people were killed overnight in more than 70 airstrikes, believed to have been mounted by Russian warplanes, in eastern Syria’s province of Deir al-Zour, the group said.
It also said that dozens of oil tanks were also destroyed in the oil-rich province, controlled by the Islamic State.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, started airstrikes against Islamic State and other extremists groups in Syria on September 30.
Around 1,331 people, including more than 400 civilians, have since been killed in Russian airstrikes in Syria, the group reported on Friday.