Daesh takes new ground near Turkish border

BEIRUT — The Daesh terror group has seized new territory from Syrian rebels in northern Syria, advancing in an area where Turkey and the United States are planning to open a new front against the group in coordination with insurgents on the ground.

The ultra-radical Daesh and a monitoring agency said the group had seized several villages as it stepped up an offensive in northern Aleppo province, in a blow to rebels who are likely partners for Ankara and Washington in any ground campaign.

Intense attacks began overnight and on Thursday morning Daesh militants had mostly encircled the rebel-held town of Marea, some 20km  from the Turkish border, a rebel leader fighting against the group in the area said.

Another insurgent commander battling Daesh said his men were fighting back in earnest to stop the jihadists from taking Marea, in clashes that had killed at least two dozen fighers on each side.

Daesh used "toxic gases" while shelling the town, he said.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres recently said it had treated a family from Marea suffering symptoms of exposure to chemical agents.

The assault on Marea could prove disastrous for rebels fighting Daesh, which has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria over the past year.

"If its progress continues, the northern countryside of Aleppo could fall," one rebel told Reuters. "If Marea falls, it means the fall of an important symbol of the groups fighting Daesh," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group tracking the war, said Daesh had wrested control of five villages from other insurgents, including two near the Turkish border.

US-Turkish campaign

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters on Monday his country and the United States would soon launch "comprehensive" air operations to flush Daesh fighters from the border region.

The two NATO allies plan to provide air cover for what Washington judges to be moderate Syrian rebels, in a joint operation to drive IS from a rectangle of border territory roughly 80km long. US jets have already begun air strikes from Turkish bases in advance of the campaign.

Diplomats familiar with the plans say cutting Daesh access to the Turkish border, across which the radical group has been able to bring foreign fighters and supplies, could be a game-changer.

Warplanes believed to be from the US-Turkish campaign were on Thursday bombing Daesh positions in one of the villages the militants had seized, the observatory reported, although a rebel commander said this was not the case.

The villages captured by Daesh on Thursday include two that the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front — which is hostile to Daesh — recently handed over to another Syrian rebel group after announcing it was withdrawing from the intended Turkish buffer zone area.

Nusra Front has warned other rebels not to be distracted from the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad by getting bogged down in potentially costly battles with Daesh.