Turkey-backed Syria rebels poised to drive IS -held from al-Bab

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian rebels backed by Turkey were poised to begin an assault to try to drive Islamic State from the Syrian city of al-Bab, two of their commanders said on Monday, November 14, a battle that could also prompt new fighting with Kurdish groups that are competing for the area, Reuters reports.

Further escalation in the complex, multi-sided conflict in northern Syria has the potential to undermine a campaign supported by an international coalition led by the United States to oust Islamic State from its Syrian capital of Raqqa.

Al-Bab is fast becoming a major faultline in the war in northern Syria, bringing Free Syrian Army rebels backed by Turkish armor closer than ever to frontlines held by the Syrian government and its Iranian and Russian allies in nearby Aleppo.

"There is nothing between us and al-Bab," said one of the rebels, a commander in one of the groups fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner taking part in the Turkey-backed Euphrates Shield operation in north Syria that began in August.

"If not in hours then in a very few days we will be inside al-Bab," the commander told Reuters, declining to be identified.

The Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday cited residents saying areas surrounding al-Bab were being struck by Turkish and FSA artillery. Another FSA commander who identified himself by the nom de guerre, Abu Assad Dabiq, said rebels were less than 3 km away.

The main struggle in Syria's civil war pits President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militias against Sunni rebels backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. They are all fighting against Islamic State.

Further complicating the warfare in northern Syria, Turkey and the FSA rebel groups it backs are also set against a Kurdish-dominated alliance of militias that has fought Islamic State since 2015 and recently began a campaign to take Raqqa.