Syria rebels clash again with militants behind Iraq crisis

Blasts went off as the ISIL militants targeted the rebel brigades and al Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front allies.

BEIRUT: New clashes erupted in eastern Syria between rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's ouster and a militant group that has captured swathes of territory in neighbouring Iraq, a monitor said Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday night's fighting broke out when Iraq and the Levant "tried to push an advance" in the village of Basira, located in the east of Deir Ezzor province close to Iraq.

Blasts went off as the ISIL militants targeted the rebel brigades and their al Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front allies in the oil-rich province, said the Observatory.

ISIL, which aims to establish an emirate straddling Iraq and Syria, first emerged in Syria in 2013, two years into the conflict between forces loyal to President Assad and those fighting to oust him.

Some of Syria's armed opposition originally welcomed ISIL to the battle, but its abuses and quest for dominance sparked a backlash that in January escalated into open hostilities with moderate and rebels backed by al Nusra.

While ISIL has been pushed out of Idlib province in the north west and much of Aleppo in the north, it remains firmly in control of Raqa province and has a strong presence in Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor.

In Deir Ezzor, fighting has been intermittent, and paused for two weeks until Monday night, a week after militants led by ISIL launched an offensive in Iraq.

As well as the fighting, Deir Ezzor's Shmeytiyeh village also saw a car bomb attack targeting a base belonging to al Nusra and rebel brigades fighting ISIL, killing six of their fighters.

More than 160,000 people are estimated to have been killed, and millions of people have been uprooted by the violence which began in March 2011 as a peaceful uprising, but it exploded into a full-blown civil war when Assad's forces launched a massive crackdown on dissent.