International
Members of an armed rebel group previously affiliated with Al-Qaeda retreated Friday from parts of the northern province of Aleppo in Syria, ahead of a Saturday deadline issued by another rebel group that could spark more infighting, opposition activists said.
Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) withdrew from several towns north of Aleppo, including Azaz near the Turkish border, said Aleppo-based activists who go by the names of Ibrahim Saeed and Abu Raed. Rival fighters moved in shortly afterward, activists and the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group confirmed.
The pullout came three days after the leader of a rival Al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria, the Nusra Front, gave ISIL a five-day ultimatum to accept mediation by leading clerics to end infighting or be "expelled" from the region.
The ultimatum, announced by the leader of the Nusra Front, aims to end two months of deadly violence between ISIL and other rebel groups that activists say has killed more than 3,000 people. Many believe the infighting is undermining the opposition fighters' wider struggle against President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Though ISIL withdrew from several towns on Friday, there has been no indication that the group will accept mediation, which leaves open the possibility of more deadly battles in the coming days.
For now, Saeed said, ISIL fighters appear to be withdrawing toward their stronghold in the northeastern city of Raqqa, the first provincial capital in Syria to fall to the rebels. ISIL’s leader, known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, once called the city the group's capital.
Syria's uprising, which began with largely peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011, has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones. Extremists, including foreign fighters and Syrian rebels who have taken up hard-line Al-Qaeda-style ideologies, have played an increasingly prominent role among fighters, dampening the West's support for the rebellion to overthrow Assad.
That has led to a backlash by moderate rebels who launched a war against ISIL.
Elsewhere Friday, the Lebanese army said in a statement that three rockets fired from Syria struck the predominantly Shia town of Brital, causing damage but no casualties.
In Beirut, security officials said Syrian warplanes also fired several missiles Friday on the edge of the Lebanese border town of Arsal without causing casualties. Such air raids have happened before in the area.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
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