BEIRUT: Al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State expelled rival rebels from the eastern Syrian city of Deir Al Zor yesterday, tightening its grip on the oil-producing province abutting territory it controls in Iraq, activists said.
The Islamic State’s fighters have been advancing against rivals in Deir Al Zor province with the help of weapons it seized in an offensive against Iraqi government forces across the border last month.
The fighting has centred largely around control of oilfields and towns along the Euphrates River and has killed hundreds of fighters since the start of the year.
Yesterday, the Islamic State expelled dozens of rival rebels from Deir Al Zor city, including Al Qaeda’s Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and Ahrar Al Sham, a hardline Islamist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“The Islamic State is now in control of the entire Deir Al Zor province apart from a few areas and the military airport that the government is in control of,” Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said.
Fighters from rival Islamist groups had either fled or pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, he said, adding that government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad still controlled about half of Deir Al Zor city.
Omar Abu Leila, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army in the east, said hundreds of fighters had fled to the Deraa area in the south near Jordan and the Qalamoun region near Lebanon since the Islamic State declared a “caliphate” in the area it controls in Syria and northern Iraq.
REUTERS
