Mortar shells kill 14 in Syrian northern city: state media

PanARMENIAN.Net - A barrage of mortar shells hit government-held areas of the northern city of Idlib on Monday, June 30, killing 14 people and wounding at least 50, Syrian state media said, according to the Associated Press.

Idlib is the provincial capital in northwestern Syria and it has been under the control of President Bashar Assad's troops since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March 2011. Rebels trying to overthrow Assad's government control the areas around the city. They have been besieging the city for more than two years, firing mortars into the government-held areas and clashing with Assad's troops at its outskirts.

The state-run SANA news agency said mortars shells fell on several parts of Idlib on Monday afternoon, including a residential area and a market. State TV said children were among those who died in the attacks, and at least 50 people were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Also Monday, activists reported heavy clashes between several Syrian rebel factions and an al Qaeda breakaway group fighting for control of a border crossing with Iraq in eastern Syria.

The fighting in the town of Boukamal, on the border between Syria and Iraq, between rebel groups and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant comes just hours after the jihadi group declared the establishment of a transnational Islamic caliphate.