Syrian rebels dealt a major symbolic blow to the Islamic State group yesterday by capturing the town of Dabiq where the militants had promised a fierce battle.
The defeat for IS came as the United States and Britain warned they were considering imposing sanctions against economic targets in Syria and Russia, which is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, over the government-imposed siege of second city Aleppo.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Turkish state media and a rebel faction said opposition fighters backed by Turkish warplanes and artillery seized control of Dabiq.
The town, in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, is of little strategic value.
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group, said rebel forces “captured Dabiq after IS members withdrew from the area”.
The Fastaqim Union, an Ankara-backed rebel faction involved in the battle, said Dabiq had fallen “after fierce clashes”.
Fastaqim said rebels then went on to seize several nearby towns, including Sawran, Ihtimaylat, and Salihiyah.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said nine rebels were killed and 28 wounded during fighting to capture the towns.
Rebel commander Haitham Ibrahim Afassi said: “I thank God for giving us victory. The heros of the Free Syrian Army have liberated the region.”
Video footage showed the streets of the town virtually deserted, with black IS flags painted on the facades of buildings as well as militant graffiti.
Dabiq has become a byword among IS supporters for a struggle against the West, with Washington and its allies bombing militants.
IS, which seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014 and declared an Islamic “caliphate”, has been dealt a series of military defeats this year and is bracing for an assault on its key Iraqi stronghold Mosul.
Turkey launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria on August 24, helping Syrian rebels to rid its frontier of IS militants and Syrian Kurdish militia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would push further south to create a 5,000-sq-km (1,900-sq-mile) safe zone in Syria.
The border area has become deeply unstable, and yesterday three Turkish police officers were killed when suspected IS suicide bombers blew themselves up during a raid on their sleeper cell in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
Fighting continued to rock the city of Aleppo, where government troops have been waging a fierce Russian-backed offensive on rebels in the eastern quarters.
Clashes took place in Aleppo’s northern and southern outskirts yesterday, as well as in the city centre, the Observatory said, adding that four people were killed in air strikes on the city’s east.
AFP’s correspondent in Aleppo said there had been nearly non-stop air raids on the opposition-held half of the city since midnight.
Rebel fire on government-controlled districts of Aleppo left three people dead and more than two dozen wounded, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
Fighting has surged in the city following the collapse last month of a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia, raising deep international concern.