More than 4,000 people have fled the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah in Iraq after government forces retook a key road to the IS stronghold over the weekend, an aid group said today. 
 
Along with roadside bombs planted by the militants, an estimated number of 50,000 civilians who remain trapped inside Fallujah, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, have slowed down the Iraqi forces&#39; operation to recapture the city. 
 
Fallujah has been under IS control for over two years, the last major city in western Iraq still held by the extremist group. The militants have threatened anyone who attempts to flee with death and last week they reportedly shot at a group of civilians attempting to flee across the Euphrates River. 
 
The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, said the 4,000 who fled since Saturday bring the total number of residents who escaped Fallujah since the Iraqi offensive started in late May to 27,580. 
 
Thousands more are expected to take the risky journey in the coming hours, NRC said, adding that some refugees reported IS militants were demanding 150,000 Iraqi Dinars, or around USD 130, from each person to let them leave. 
 
The aid group warned that humanitarian resources are running low and called for at least USD 10 million for a six months&#39; supply of water, food and basic necessities. 
 
&quot;Thousands of others remain trapped inside and the most vulnerable will need urgent assistance,&quot; said NRC Country Director in Iraq Nasr Muflahi. 
 
Yesterday, the Iraqi command announced that key areas&nbsp;to the west of Fallujah have been taken and that Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the city from its southern edges. 
 
The US-trained Iraqi counterterrorism forces, wary of coming street battles in the city, are already facing fierce resistance on the outskirts from well-entrenched militants.

A total of 27,580 people have fled the city since Iraqi forces launched an offensive to recapture Fallujah in May this year

More than 4,000 people have fled the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah in Iraq after government forces retook a key road to the IS stronghold over the weekend, an aid group said today. Along with roadside bombs planted by the militants, an estimated number of 50,000 civilians who remain trapped inside Fallujah, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, have slowed down the Iraqi forces' operation to recapture the city. Fallujah has been under IS control for over two years, the last major city in western Iraq still held by the extremist group. The militants have threatened anyone who attempts to flee with death and last week they reportedly shot at a group of civilians attempting to flee across the Euphrates River. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, said the 4,000 who fled since Saturday bring the total number of residents who escaped Fallujah since the Iraqi offensive started in late May to 27,580. Thousands more are expected to take the risky journey in the coming hours, NRC said, adding that some refugees reported IS militants were demanding 150,000 Iraqi Dinars, or around USD 130, from each person to let them leave. The aid group warned that humanitarian resources are running low and called for at least USD 10 million for a six months' supply of water, food and basic necessities. "Thousands of others remain trapped inside and the most vulnerable will need urgent assistance," said NRC Country Director in Iraq Nasr Muflahi. Yesterday, the Iraqi command announced that key areas to the west of Fallujah have been taken and that Iraqi forces pushed deeper into the city from its southern edges. The US-trained Iraqi counterterrorism forces, wary of coming street battles in the city, are already facing fierce resistance on the outskirts from well-entrenched militants.

4,000 more flee IS-held city of Fallujah in Iraq

A total of 27,580 have fled the city since the Iraqi army launched an offensive to recapture Fallujah in May this year

A Syrian journalist campaigning against the Islamic State was shot by fighters from the group in southeastern Turkey, a news agency affiliated with the radical Islamists and Syrian activists said today. 
 
Ahmed Abdulkader was shot in the head by two Islamic State militants riding a motorcycle and is being treated in the intensive care unit of Sanliurfa state hospital, an official in the provincial governor&#39;s office said. 
 
The Amaq news agency, which is close to Islamic State, said Abdulkader was the head of a local newspaper and one of the founders of &quot;Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently&quot;, a campaign group against the radical militants. 
 
His attempted killing is the fifth such attack in the past eight months targeting Syrian anti-Islamic State activists in Turkey&#39;s southeast, parts of which are held by the radical militants. None of the others survived. 
 
Among the four killed was Abdulkader&#39;s 27-year-old brother, Ibrahim, a member of the same campaign group who was shot in the head and beheaded along with a fellow activist at his home in Sanliurfa last October. 
 
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) member Turkey has increasingly become a target for the Islamic State. The group has been blamed for two suicide bombings in Istanbul this year and has carried out targeted killings in the southern cities of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, both hubs for Syrian activists trying to document the war. (Reuters) 
 
An online broadcaster for Aleppo Today, who was shot in the neck in April, died at the hospital two days later. That attack came three months after a Syrian documentary maker was gunned down in Gaziantep. Both killings were blamed on the Islamic State. 
 
Turkey has long faced criticism for failing to do more to prevent thousands of suspected foreign fighters from crossing its territory to join the ranks of Islamic State in Syria. 
 
Since last July, border security has been tightened. Turkey has also helped to facilitate joint air strikes with US-led coalition aircraft on Islamic State positions in northern Syria, and the military has ramped up artillery fire in response to cross-border shelling.

The attack is the fifth attempt to kill Syrian anti-IS activists in Turkey in the last eight months

A Syrian journalist campaigning against the Islamic State was shot by fighters from the group in southeastern Turkey, a news agency affiliated with the radical Islamists and Syrian activists said today. Ahmed Abdulkader was shot in the head by two Islamic State militants riding a motorcycle and is being treated in the intensive care unit of Sanliurfa state hospital, an official in the provincial governor's office said. The Amaq news agency, which is close to Islamic State, said Abdulkader was the head of a local newspaper and one of the founders of "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently", a campaign group against the radical militants. His attempted killing is the fifth such attack in the past eight months targeting Syrian anti-Islamic State activists in Turkey's southeast, parts of which are held by the radical militants. None of the others survived. Among the four killed was Abdulkader's 27-year-old brother, Ibrahim, a member of the same campaign group who was shot in the head and beheaded along with a fellow activist at his home in Sanliurfa last October. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) member Turkey has increasingly become a target for the Islamic State. The group has been blamed for two suicide bombings in Istanbul this year and has carried out targeted killings in the southern cities of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, both hubs for Syrian activists trying to document the war. (Reuters) An online broadcaster for Aleppo Today, who was shot in the neck in April, died at the hospital two days later. That attack came three months after a Syrian documentary maker was gunned down in Gaziantep. Both killings were blamed on the Islamic State. Turkey has long faced criticism for failing to do more to prevent thousands of suspected foreign fighters from crossing its territory to join the ranks of Islamic State in Syria. Since last July, border security has been tightened. Turkey has also helped to facilitate joint air strikes with US-led coalition aircraft on Islamic State positions in northern Syria, and the military has ramped up artillery fire in response to cross-border shelling.

Syrian activist shot by Islamic State fighters in southeast Turkey, in critical condition

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus today, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said. 
 
The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria&#39;s holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq who are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country&#39;s five-year-old civil war.

Amaq news agency said that in today&#39;s attack, militants detonated an explosives-laden car in Sayeda Zeinab while two suicide bombers blew themselves up nearby. Syrian state media showed footage of wide-scale damage in a busy marketplace.

A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon&#39;s powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad&#39;s government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria.

They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria's holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus today, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said. The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria's holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq who are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's five-year-old civil war. Amaq news agency said that in today's attack, militants detonated an explosives-laden car in Sayeda Zeinab while two suicide bombers blew themselves up nearby. Syrian state media showed footage of wide-scale damage in a busy marketplace. A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad's government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria. They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

Islamic State claims responsibility for bombings near Damascus Shiite shrine

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in an online audio message, pledged allegiance to the new head of the Afghan Taliban, who was appointed last month after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike. 
 
The veteran Islamist militant became al-Qaeda&#39;s leader after US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. He is thought to be hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region having been based there since the late 1990s. 
 
&quot;As leader of the al-Qaeda organisation for jihad I extend my pledge of allegiance once again to the approach of Osama to invite the Muslim nation to support the Islamic Emirate,&quot; al-Zawahri said in a 14-minute recording. 
 
During its years in power, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and it has been fighting an insurgency since to regain control of the country. 
 
The authenticity of the recording could not be immediately verified. 
 
Haibatullah Akhundzada, Islamic legal scholar who was one of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour&#39;s deputies, was appointed a few days after Mansour was killed by a US drone attack in a remote border area just inside Pakistan. 
 
Since al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor-turned-militant, succeeded bin Laden, al-Qaeda has lost ground to the Islamic State in the leadership of the global jihadist movement. 
 
Some Afghan insurgent commanders have broken away from the Taliban to pledge support for Islamic State, despite it operating largely in Iraq and Syria, and parts of North Africa. 
 
Al-Qaeda was set up by Arab guerrillas who flocked to Afghanistan to fight Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s. It had thrived under the Taliban&#39;s rule before both groups were driven underground following the US invasion that followed Al-Qaeda&#39;s September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

The al-Qaeda leader is following Osama Bin Laden's approach to support the Taliban to regain ground in the global jihadist movement

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in an online audio message, pledged allegiance to the new head of the Afghan Taliban, who was appointed last month after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike. The veteran Islamist militant became al-Qaeda's leader after US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. He is thought to be hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region having been based there since the late 1990s. "As leader of the al-Qaeda organisation for jihad I extend my pledge of allegiance once again to the approach of Osama to invite the Muslim nation to support the Islamic Emirate," al-Zawahri said in a 14-minute recording. During its years in power, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and it has been fighting an insurgency since to regain control of the country. The authenticity of the recording could not be immediately verified. Haibatullah Akhundzada, Islamic legal scholar who was one of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour's deputies, was appointed a few days after Mansour was killed by a US drone attack in a remote border area just inside Pakistan. Since al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor-turned-militant, succeeded bin Laden, al-Qaeda has lost ground to the Islamic State in the leadership of the global jihadist movement. Some Afghan insurgent commanders have broken away from the Taliban to pledge support for Islamic State, despite it operating largely in Iraq and Syria, and parts of North Africa. Al-Qaeda was set up by Arab guerrillas who flocked to Afghanistan to fight Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s. It had thrived under the Taliban's rule before both groups were driven underground following the US invasion that followed Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Al-Qaeda leader pledges allegiance to new Afghan Taliban leader

Bangladesh police have detained over 1,700, including some members of an outlawed militant outfit Jamayatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB),&nbsp;as part of a crackdown to halt the wave of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists, officials said today. 
 
A total of 1,740 people were detained after top police officials decided at a meeting on Thursday to launch an anti-militant drive. 
 
On the first day of the week-long drive, about 1,600 people were detained across the country yesterday. At least 140 people were detained today from different districts in the wake of recent killings, &#39;The Daily Star&#39; reported. 
 
Of the total 140 detainees, 88 are from Rajshahi district, 35 from Satkhira and 17 from Natore.Nine enlisted militants were among the 88 persons detained from Rajshahi, the report said. 
 
Eight of them belong to Jamayatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), while another belongs to Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), said Shariful Alam, assistant superintendent of police in Rajshahi. 
 
Bangladesh has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on religious minorities and secular activists. 
 
A 60-year-old Hindu ashram worker was yesterday hacked to death by ISIS jihadists while he was out for a morning walk. This happened just days after another priest was killed by terrorists of the same outfit in the Muslim-majority nation. 
 
The latest attack came just hours after police said they launched a nationwide anti-militancy drive besides engaging the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh. 
 
The security clampdown was launched a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to intensify a nationwide anti-terror security clampdown. 
 
In February militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid. 
 
In April, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in Rajshahi city. In the same month, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death in his shop and Bangladesh&#39;s first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

The week-long drive was launched to arrest the growing wave of attacks on religious minorities and secular activists by Islamic militants

Bangladesh police have detained over 1,700, including some members of an outlawed militant outfit Jamayatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), as part of a crackdown to halt the wave of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists, officials said today. A total of 1,740 people were detained after top police officials decided at a meeting on Thursday to launch an anti-militant drive. On the first day of the week-long drive, about 1,600 people were detained across the country yesterday. At least 140 people were detained today from different districts in the wake of recent killings, 'The Daily Star' reported. Of the total 140 detainees, 88 are from Rajshahi district, 35 from Satkhira and 17 from Natore.Nine enlisted militants were among the 88 persons detained from Rajshahi, the report said. Eight of them belong to Jamayatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), while another belongs to Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), said Shariful Alam, assistant superintendent of police in Rajshahi. Bangladesh has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on religious minorities and secular activists. A 60-year-old Hindu ashram worker was yesterday hacked to death by ISIS jihadists while he was out for a morning walk. This happened just days after another priest was killed by terrorists of the same outfit in the Muslim-majority nation. The latest attack came just hours after police said they launched a nationwide anti-militancy drive besides engaging the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh. The security clampdown was launched a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to intensify a nationwide anti-terror security clampdown. In February militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid. In April, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death in Rajshahi city. In the same month, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death in his shop and Bangladesh's first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

Bangladesh cracks down on militants, detains over 1,700

The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State said on Friday that it could not confirm a report by an Iraqi TV channel that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been wounded in air strikes. 
 
A spokesman of the coalition, Colonel Chris Garver, said in an email that he had seen the reports but had &quot;nothing to confirm this at this time&quot;. 
 
Al Sumariya TV cited local sources in Iraq&#39;s Nineveh province that Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders were wounded on Thursday in a coalition air strike on one of the group&#39;s command headquarters close to the Syrian border. 
 
The channel has good connections with Shi&#39;ite politicians and Iraqi forces engaged in the battle against Islamic State. 
 
There have been several reports in the past that Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, was killed or wounded after proclaiming himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago. 
 
The ultra-hardline Sunni group is under increased pressure in both Iraq and Syria, and the territory under its control has shrunk significantly since 2014, limiting the potential for its leaders to move around or seek shelter. 
 
The U.S. earlier this year announced an intensification of the war on Islamic State with more air strikes and more American troops on the ground to advise and assist allied forces. 
 
The U.S.-led coalition has regularly flown raids out of Erbil, the capital of Iraq&#39;s Kurdistan region, in operations aimed at killing and capturing Islamic State leaders. 
 
A Kurdish intelligence official and an Arab from the Baaj area west of Mosul said the U.S.-led coalition had conducted such a raid there earlier this week. The coalition did not confirm this raid. 
 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces are positioned in an arc around the north and east of Mosul while the Iraqi army is trying to capture Falluja, the group&#39;s stronghold near Baghdad. 
 
The Iraqi army is also assembling tanks and troops in south of Mosul, for an offensive planned later this year to retake the largest city under the control of the militants. 
 
In Syria, Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed Syrian opposition and Kurds are separately trying to advance on Raqqa, the group&#39;s capital in Syria

Al Sumariya TV had cited local sources in Iraq's Nineveh province as saying Baghdadi had been wounded on Thursday in a coalition air strike

The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State said on Friday that it could not confirm a report by an Iraqi TV channel that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been wounded in air strikes. A spokesman of the coalition, Colonel Chris Garver, said in an email that he had seen the reports but had "nothing to confirm this at this time". Al Sumariya TV cited local sources in Iraq's Nineveh province that Baghdadi and other Islamic State leaders were wounded on Thursday in a coalition air strike on one of the group's command headquarters close to the Syrian border. The channel has good connections with Shi'ite politicians and Iraqi forces engaged in the battle against Islamic State. There have been several reports in the past that Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, was killed or wounded after proclaiming himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago. The ultra-hardline Sunni group is under increased pressure in both Iraq and Syria, and the territory under its control has shrunk significantly since 2014, limiting the potential for its leaders to move around or seek shelter. The U.S. earlier this year announced an intensification of the war on Islamic State with more air strikes and more American troops on the ground to advise and assist allied forces. The U.S.-led coalition has regularly flown raids out of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, in operations aimed at killing and capturing Islamic State leaders. A Kurdish intelligence official and an Arab from the Baaj area west of Mosul said the U.S.-led coalition had conducted such a raid there earlier this week. The coalition did not confirm this raid. Kurdish Peshmerga forces are positioned in an arc around the north and east of Mosul while the Iraqi army is trying to capture Falluja, the group's stronghold near Baghdad. The Iraqi army is also assembling tanks and troops in south of Mosul, for an offensive planned later this year to retake the largest city under the control of the militants. In Syria, Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed Syrian opposition and Kurds are separately trying to advance on Raqqa, the group's capital in Syria

US-led coalition can't confirm report that Islamic State leader Baghdadi wounded

More than 22 people were killed and 70 wounded in two separate bombings&nbsp;in Baghdad today, one targeting a commercial street and the other an army checkpoint, Iraqi police said.

The attacks came&nbsp;as Iraqi forces were&nbsp;trying to dislodge Islamic State militants from Falluja, their stronghold just west of Baghdad.

A car packed with explosive blew up in a commercial street of Baghdad al-Jadeeda (New Baghdad), an eastern district of the capital, killing at least 15 people and wounding over 50, a police officer said.

A suicide car bomb also targeted a main army checkpoint in Taji, just north of Baghdad, killing seven soldiers and wounding more than 20 others, he said. 
 
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had announced the start of an offensive to liberate Falluja from the Islamic State, which captured the city two years ago,&nbsp;on May 22. A lot of people have been trying to flee the city as both&nbsp;the&nbsp;Iraqi army and the Islamic State continue&nbsp;to fight to wrest control of Falluja.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The attacks came as Iraqi forces were trying to dislodge Islamic militants from Falluja

More than 22 people were killed and 70 wounded in two separate bombings in Baghdad today, one targeting a commercial street and the other an army checkpoint, Iraqi police said. The attacks came as Iraqi forces were trying to dislodge Islamic State militants from Falluja, their stronghold just west of Baghdad. A car packed with explosive blew up in a commercial street of Baghdad al-Jadeeda (New Baghdad), an eastern district of the capital, killing at least 15 people and wounding over 50, a police officer said. A suicide car bomb also targeted a main army checkpoint in Taji, just north of Baghdad, killing seven soldiers and wounding more than 20 others, he said. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had announced the start of an offensive to liberate Falluja from the Islamic State, which captured the city two years ago, on May 22. A lot of people have been trying to flee the city as both the Iraqi army and the Islamic State continue to fight to wrest control of Falluja.

More than 22 killed, 70 wounded in two bombings in Baghdad

Islamic State fighters withdrew from frontlines with Syrian rebel forces north of Aleppo today as they mounted a counter attack against the jihadist group near the Turkish border, an opposition source and monitoring group said. 
 
The sudden withdrawal from villages around the rebel-held town of Marea points to the pressure Islamic State is feeling from offensives being waged by other enemies further east, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. 
 
Islamic State had managed to besiege the rebel-held town of Marea in a significant advance late last month, stranding thousands of civilians there and prompting a US-led coalition to air drop weapons to rebels, rebel sources said. 
 
Rebel fighters in Marea broke the siege today when they captured the village of Kafr Kalbin on the road linking Marea with Azaz, 20 km (12 miles) to the northwest at the border with Turkey. The advance was preceded by a rebel statement saying they were uniting their ranks. 
 
&quot;It seems they (IS) can&#39;t keep several fronts open at the same time. It is a strategic area, they were on the verge of entering Azaz,&quot; observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. The opposition source said Islamic State had withdrawn from the area quickly, and Free Syrian Army(FSA) factions had filled the void. 
 
FSA rebels fighting Islamic State north of Aleppo have received military assistance from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. 
 
Their battle with Islamic State is separate to one being waged further east by a US-backed group, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Kurdish Yek?ney?n Parastina Gel&lrm;(YPG) militia. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, has also advanced against Islamic State since last week. 
 
The FSA rebels are fighting separate conflicts with both the SDF and Assad, their main enemy.

Withdrawal points to the pressure IS is feeling from offensives being waged by other enemies further east

Islamic State fighters withdrew from frontlines with Syrian rebel forces north of Aleppo today as they mounted a counter attack against the jihadist group near the Turkish border, an opposition source and monitoring group said. The sudden withdrawal from villages around the rebel-held town of Marea points to the pressure Islamic State is feeling from offensives being waged by other enemies further east, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Islamic State had managed to besiege the rebel-held town of Marea in a significant advance late last month, stranding thousands of civilians there and prompting a US-led coalition to air drop weapons to rebels, rebel sources said. Rebel fighters in Marea broke the siege today when they captured the village of Kafr Kalbin on the road linking Marea with Azaz, 20 km (12 miles) to the northwest at the border with Turkey. The advance was preceded by a rebel statement saying they were uniting their ranks. "It seems they (IS) can't keep several fronts open at the same time. It is a strategic area, they were on the verge of entering Azaz," observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. The opposition source said Islamic State had withdrawn from the area quickly, and Free Syrian Army(FSA) factions had filled the void. FSA rebels fighting Islamic State north of Aleppo have received military assistance from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. Their battle with Islamic State is separate to one being waged further east by a US-backed group, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Kurdish Yek?ney?n Parastina Gel‎(YPG) militia. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, has also advanced against Islamic State since last week. The FSA rebels are fighting separate conflicts with both the SDF and Assad, their main enemy.

Islamic State withdraws from northwest Syria frontlines

The Iraqi army began an operation today to storm Falluja, the Islamic State group&#39;s stronghold near Baghdad, a military officer told a Reuters TV crew near the front line.

A military unit is trying to advance in the city, he said as explosions and gunfire could be heard in Falluja&#39;s southern Naimiya district.

The Iraqi army, supported by Iranian-backed Shi&#39;ite militia, began the operation to recapture Falluja on May 23, first by tightening its siege around the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, and has now begun a direct assault.

In January 2014, Falluja became the first Iraqi city to fall under the control of the militants, six months before they declared a caliphate over territory seized in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi army has launched a military assault on the city of Falluja--the first Iraqi city to be captured by the Islamic State in January 2014--to recapture it.

The Iraqi army began an operation today to storm Falluja, the Islamic State group's stronghold near Baghdad, a military officer told a Reuters TV crew near the front line. A military unit is trying to advance in the city, he said as explosions and gunfire could be heard in Falluja's southern Naimiya district. The Iraqi army, supported by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia, began the operation to recapture Falluja on May 23, first by tightening its siege around the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, and has now begun a direct assault. In January 2014, Falluja became the first Iraqi city to fall under the control of the militants, six months before they declared a caliphate over territory seized in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi army starts operation to recapture IS-held city of Falluja

isis

Isis, News on Isis, stories on Isis, articles on Isis, Isis stories at Wion, Isis news, Isis latest news