Al-Nusra advances in Syria's Idlib area, pushing back moderates

Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra has taken over key districts of Idlib suburbs in northwestern Syria, ousting U.S.-backed Syrian rebels from their strongholds and raising fears of their wider ascendance in northern Syria, monitors and activists say, according to CNN.

The Islamist militant group, also known as al-Nusra Front, pushed the Syrian Revolutionary Front and the Hazm Movement out of the Idlib suburbs of Jabal al-Zawia and Jisr Alshugur, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group.

One observer suggested the al-Nusra moves had taken about 70% of the territory once held by moderates. But these moderates held little sway within military circles of the rebel movement, and they had influence mostly because of their links to the U.S.

Like ISIS, al-Nusra Front is trying to establish an Islamic state, though primarily in Syria. It has emerged as one of the most effective groups fighting the Syrian regime, drawing on foreign fighters with combat experience in Iraq and elsewhere. The group has claimed hundreds of attacks in several cities, including suicide bombings, and is responsible for the deaths of "numerous innocent Syrians," the U.S. State Department said.

There are concerns that al-Nusra was moving to homogenize its control of the Idlib area, where it has long been dominant, and might target a key border crossing. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that al-Nusra fighters have mobilized in the town of Sarmada, near the Turkish-Syrian border crossing of Bab Al Hawa, leading to fears they may seek to take over that key border post.