Syrian Observatory Says 'Hardly Any' ISIL Left in Aleppo as Jihadist HQ Falls to Rebels
"Hardly any" jihadists from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are left in Aleppo, a Syrian NGO said Wednesday after the fall of ISIL's headquarters there.
"ISIL withdrew from the Inzarat area after clashes with fighters from rebel... brigades, and the post office building was taken over by Islamist rebel fighters" who had been battling ISIL, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"There are hardly any ISIL members left in the city of Aleppo."
The Observatory said earlier that fighters from several Syrian rebel brigades have seized the headquarters of ISIL in Aleppo.
"Fighters from several Islamist rebel brigades took control of the children's hospital in the Qadi Askar district, which is the headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the city," the Observatory said.
The Observatory said it was unclear what had happened to "hundreds" of ISIL fighters who had been inside the headquarters.
The rebels freed dozens of people who were being held prisoner in the ISIL headquarters, it added, citing initial reports.
ISIL has been fighting a coalition of moderate and Islamist rebels angered by a spate of abuses by the jihadists, who have been accused of kidnapping and killing civilians and rival rebels.
Late Tuesday, an ISIL spokesman said the group would "crush" opposition fighters and warned that it considered members of the opposition National Coalition and the military command of the Free Syrian Army to be "legitimate targets."
Source: Agence France Presse
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