BEIRUT // A coalition of Jabhat Al Nusra and other Syrian rebels seized a strategic village from pro-government forces outside the contested city of Aleppo on Friday, signaling the re-emergence of a powerful, ultraconservative insurgent coalition in the Syria conflict.
Renewed fighting erupted around the village of Khan Touman hours after opposition fighters took the position from pro-government forces, the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Fighter jets, presumed to belong to the Syrian air force or the air force of its powerful ally, Russia, were launching strikes on opposition positions.
At least 43 insurgents and 30 fighters on the government side have been killed in the fighting since Thursday afternoon, according to the Observatory.
The offensive was commanded by the Jaish Al Fatah coalition, a group led by Jabhat Al Nusra, and the militias Jund Al Aqsa and Ahrar Al Sham. The Observatory said other non-extremist rebels also fought for Khan Touman on the side of the coalition.
Khan Touman is just 6 kilometres from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Aleppo-area opposition media activist Bahaa Al Halaby said the insurgents took control of Khan Touman at about 7am on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, websites published photos said to be taken from the Shaer gas field district in central Homs province showing ISIL militants helping themselves to a large government weapons cache, including tanks and military vehicles.
The vital gas fields, which were in government hands, fell to the extremist fighters on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a Syrian military official denied that its army carried out an operation against the Sarmada refugee camp on Thursday, saying all reports about the attack were false. Air strikes on the camp, in a rebel-held area near the Turkish border, killed at least 28 civilians, including women and children.
* Associated Press
