Beirut, Dec 9 (AFP) The Islamic State group has seizedterritory in Syria's Idlib province after clashes with rivaljihadists, nearly four years after being expelled from theregion, a monitor said today.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rightssaid IS had captured the village of Bashkun after clashes withHayat Tahrir al-Sham, a force dominated by a former Al-Qaedaaffiliate.
The capture comes after days of fighting between IS andHTS in neighbouring Hama province, during which IS captured astring of villages in the northeast of the region, theObservatory said.
The capture of Bashkun puts IS back in Idlib nearly fouryears after it was first expelled from the province innorthwestern Syria after battles with rival jihadists andrebel groups.
IS has seen the so-called "caliphate" it declared in 2014across parts of Syria and Iraq crumble in recent weeks, losingkey cities such as Raqa and Mosul.
It now holds just a few patches of territory in Syria,and on Saturday Iraq's prime minister declared the war againstthe jihadist group in his country was now over.
More than 340,000 people have been killed in Syria'smulti-faceted war since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011. (AFP)NSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.