Clashes rock Marea town in Syria

Hundreds of civilians flee Iraq’s Fallujah area

AFP, BEIRUT: Heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped a town in northeastern Syria Saturday, a monitor and an activist said, after a lightning assault by the jihadists cut a main supply route.
“Heavy clashes took place overnight between IS fighters and rebels inside the walls of Marea town,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
IS swept through rebel-held territory early Friday in a shock offensive in Aleppo province, cutting off the main road between Marea and Azaz, 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the northeast near the Turkish border.
The surprise advance came as the jihadist group faced an offensive by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance in its own heartland of Raqa province further east.
Maamoun Khateeb, a journalist and activist from Azaz, told AFP that IS attacked Marea early Saturday mainly from the east and north using tanks and two car bombs.
The advance has besieged around 15,000 residents remaining inside Marea, he said.
Human rights groups have warned that the IS advance in Aleppo has left tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trapped along the closed Turkish border.
To the east in Raqa province, warplanes from the US-led coalition conducted air strikes on IS positions north of Raqa city, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
But the Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting the jihadist group north of its de facto Syrian capital had made no strategic progress on the ground, he said.
Syria’s war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people fled the Fallujah area Friday as forces pressed simultaneous offensives on the Iraqi city and on another of the Islamic State group’s key bastions in Syria.
An estimated 50,000 civilians remained trapped in Fallujah city however, as well as twice that number along Syria’s border with Turkey as a result of an IS sweep near Aleppo.
The US-led coalition claimed it killed a key IS commander for the Fallujah area, although it was not clear when.
“We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher Al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL (IS) forces in Fallujah,” coalition spokesman Steve Warren said.
Warren said the IS commander was killed two days ago while an Iraqi officer and a local official had reported his death last week.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces on May 22-23 launched an offensive to retake Fallujah, one of only two major Iraqi cities still controlled by IS, the other being Mosul.
IS fighters holed up in Fallujah are believed to number around 1,000 and while the myriad forces involved in the operation have moved closer, none have yet entered the city proper.
Fallujah is one of IS’s most important bastions.
It was the first Iraqi city to fall out of government control in January 2014 and was the scene a decade earlier of some of the worst fighting US forces had seen since the Vietnam war.
The city has been surrounded by pro-government forces for months and concern has been mounting among humanitarian groups that the population was being deliberately starved.
 “The situation inside Fallujah is getting critical by the day,” said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Iraq director. Despite plans before the operation for safe corridors, few civilians have managed to flee the Fallujah battle in recent days.
The biggest group slipped out on Friday. “Our forces evacuated 460 people... most of them women and children,” said police Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat.

 

Clashes rock Marea town in Syria

Hundreds of civilians flee Iraqs Fallujah area

AFP, BEIRUT: Heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped a town in northeastern Syria Saturday, a monitor and an activist said, after a lightning assault by the jihadists cut a main supply route. Heavy clashes took place overnight between IS fighters and rebels inside the walls of Marea town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. IS swept through rebel-held territory early Friday in a shock offensive in Aleppo province, cutting off the main road between Marea and Azaz, 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the northeast near the Turkish border. The surprise advance came as the jihadist group faced an offensive by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance in its own heartland of Raqa province further east. Maamoun Khateeb, a journalist and activist from Azaz, told AFP that IS attacked Marea early Saturday mainly from the east and north using tanks and two car bombs. The advance has besieged around 15,000 residents remaining inside Marea, he said. Human rights groups have warned that the IS advance in Aleppo has left tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trapped along the closed Turkish border. To the east in Raqa province, warplanes from the US-led coalition conducted air strikes on IS positions north of Raqa city, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. But the Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting the jihadist group north of its de facto Syrian capital had made no strategic progress on the ground, he said. Syrias war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011. Meanwhile, hundreds of people fled the Fallujah area Friday as forces pressed simultaneous offensives on the Iraqi city and on another of the Islamic State groups key bastions in Syria. An estimated 50,000 civilians remained trapped in Fallujah city however, as well as twice that number along Syrias border with Turkey as a result of an IS sweep near Aleppo. The US-led coalition claimed it killed a key IS commander for the Fallujah area, although it was not clear when. Weve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher Al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL (IS) forces in Fallujah, coalition spokesman Steve Warren said. Warren said the IS commander was killed two days ago while an Iraqi officer and a local official had reported his death last week. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces on May 22-23 launched an offensive to retake Fallujah, one of only two major Iraqi cities still controlled by IS, the other being Mosul. IS fighters holed up in Fallujah are believed to number around 1,000 and while the myriad forces involved in the operation have moved closer, none have yet entered the city proper. Fallujah is one of ISs most important bastions. It was the first Iraqi city to fall out of government control in January 2014 and was the scene a decade earlier of some of the worst fighting US forces had seen since the Vietnam war. The city has been surrounded by pro-government forces for months and concern has been mounting among humanitarian groups that the population was being deliberately starved. The situation inside Fallujah is getting critical by the day, said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Councils Iraq director. Despite plans before the operation for safe corridors, few civilians have managed to flee the Fallujah battle in recent days. The biggest group slipped out on Friday. Our forces evacuated 460 people... most of them women and children, said police Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat.