ISIL militants kill 15 Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria

Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings on October 3, 2016, following reported air strikes in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Damascus. Abd Doumany/AFShow more

ANKARA // Fighting in northern Syria between Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and ISIL militants killed at least 15 rebels as the opposition tried to push toward a town of symbolic importance for the extremists.

In central Syria, meanwhile, two suicide bombers struck in the city of Hama near an office of President Bashar Al Assad’s Baath party, killing two people and wounding at least 12, state news agency Sana said.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-packed belt in Hama’s Al Assi Square on Monday, and another suicide bomber struck 15 minutes later.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two explosions killed two people and wounded 14.

ISIL later admitted to the attack, saying three suicide attackers carried out the assault.

Hama is Syria’s fourth largest city and has been relatively quiet in recent years. It’s firmly under the control of Assad’s forces. The twin bombings came as various insurgent groups have been on the offensive north of the city.

The death toll among the Syrian rebels near the Turkish border is the highest since Turkey sent troops and tanks into Syria in August to help rebels re-take ISIL strongholds in the area and curb the advance of a Syrian Kurdish militia, which Ankara views as an extension of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish separatists.

Turkish military officials said 15 Syrian opposition fighters were killed and about 35 wounded in the fighting, which seeks to capture seven residential districts south of the town of Al Rai.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 21 rebels were killed and more than two dozen wounded, adding that many of the casualties were due to land mines and booby-traps planted by the extremists near the village of Turkmen Bari.

The Turkey-backed rebels are trying to reach the town of Dabiq, which occupies a central place in ISIL propaganda. The extremist group claims the town, which they occupied since August 2014, will be the site of a climactic battle between the forces of Christianity and Islam.

Meanwhile, Russian and Syrian government warplanes carried out more airstrikes around the country, mostly in eastern rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo.

A medical relief group and the Observatory said airstrikes have damaged and put of service one of Syria’s most secure hospitals, which had been dug into a mountain.

The International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, said the Dr Hasan Al Araj Hospital – also known as “Cave Hospital” and located in the central province of Hama – was struck twice on Sunday.

Russian warplanes carried out the attacks that hit the hospital, near the central village of Kfar Zeita, adding that it’s one of the largest hospitals in rebel-held parts of the country.

Dr Abdallah Darwish, the hospital’s director and health care chief in Hama province, said the hospital was likely struck by “bunker buster” missiles as it is “well-fortified in a cave and impervious to previous attacks.”

The bomb completely destroyed the hospital’s emergency ward and caused major damage throughout the hospital, he said.

Syrian and Russian warplanes have been blamed for a series of attacks that have damaged hospitals and clinics in rebel-held parts of Syria, mostly in Aleppo.

*Associated Press