08/01/2014 16:14
Syria rebels 'seize' ISIS headquarters in Aleppo
Islamist rebel brigades are reported to have seized the headquarters of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the BBC reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not clear what had happened to the jihadists who had been at the former hospital in the Qadi Askar area.
A video posted online showed rivals proclaiming their victory there.
Recent days have seen fierce fighting in several Syrian towns between the al-Qaeda affiliate and other rebel groups.
On Tuesday evening, an ISIS spokesman vowed that it would "crush" its rivals and "kill the conspiracy in its cradle."
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani also said it considered members of the opposition alliance, the National Coalition, and the Supreme Military Council of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army to be "legitimate targets."
His warning came hours after the head of the other al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Syria, the al-Nusra Front, called for a ceasefire.
More than 270 people, including 46 civilians, have been killed in the worst rebel-on-rebel violence since the uprising in Syria began in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory, a UK-based activist group.
The clashes erupted on Friday when rivals launched what appeared to a series of co-ordinated strikes against ISIS in northern and eastern Syria. The offensive was backed by the National Coalition.
On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory reported that ISIS's main base in Aleppo, a former children's hospital, had been captured by several Islamist brigades, adding that it was unclear what had happened to the "hundreds" of fighters who had been there.
However, dozens of their prisoners were reportedly found and freed.