Dozens killed near Turkey in clashes between Daesh, Syria rebels

BEIRUT: Fighting between Islamic State (IS) and Syrian rebels near the Turkish border has killed dozens of people in the last two days, as IS militants keep up an offensive that has led to rapid territorial gains, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

Fighters from the militant group entered the rebel-held town of Marea early on Saturday, using at least two car bombs in the assault, and clashes continued later in the day, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An advance by the jihadists on Friday that cut Marea off from another key insurgent-held town, Azaz, was their biggest territorial gain in the northern province of Aleppo for two years, the Observatory said.

Islamic State has been battling rebel factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army since late last year, but clashes have intensified in recent weeks.

The fighting in the past two days has killed at least 27 civilians as well as 41 combatants, the Observatory said. A U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State carried out air raids on some of their positions in one of the villages that the jihadists had captured, it said.

The coalition is meanwhile backing fighters, including the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, in an offensive against IS in the northern countryside of neighbouring Raqqa province, which is home to the group´s de facto capital, Raqqa city.