An al Qaeda splinter group has wrested control of key parts of the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor from other rebel groups, activists said on Sunday, worsening infighting that has handicapped the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad. More than 100,000 civilians have fled the province following weeks of intense clashes between Islamist insurgents, the anti- Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Civilians in Deir al-Zor lived through more than two years of fighting between opposition fighters and the government. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - which started as an offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq but has since been disowned - took neighborhoods of Deir al-Zor city from the Nusra Front, Syria's official al Qaeda affiliate, this weekend, according to the Observatory.
05-12-2014, 08:22 AM
Al Qaeda splinter group moves to take eastern Syrian city
العرض الشجري