Clashes between ‘radical’ fighters and rebels ‘leave 19 dead in western Aleppo’

Source:Middle East Eye Date:02Jan2019

Eyes on Idlib again:  Probably Ankara trying to deliver on its promise to  purge radical elements in the province

Clashes between “radical” fighters and rebels in northern Syria have killed at least 19 people, an activist group said on Tuesday.

The fighting, pitting al-Qaeda-linked coalition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) against an alliance of rebel groups, flared in western Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

HTS had on Monday accused rebel group Nureddine al-Zinki of killing five of its members, and launched an offensive against rebel positions close to the country’s last opposition bastion in the northwestern province of Idlib.