Jihadists battle rebels for control of key Syria province

A former Al-Qaeda affiliate was locked in fierce clashes today with a leading rebel group for control of one of the last major parts of Syria not held by the regime.

The clashes in Syria's Idlib province in the country's northwest pit the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) against the key rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, which is supported by Turkey and some Gulf countries.

The factions were once allies and fought alongside each other to capture most of Idlib province from the Syrian government in 2015.

But growing tensions between the two have been exacerbated, analysts say, by HTS's fears of a plan to expel the internationally designated "terror" group from the province.

The current fighting erupted on Tuesday and quickly spread throughout the province, including overnight to the key Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The crossing was previously controlled by Ahrar al-Sham.

"The fighting is now inside the crossing. It has become a battlefield, with part of it under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's control, and part under Ahrar al-Sham's control," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, said.

HTS also seized two villages and dispatched "huge military reinforcements" to a third to take on Ahrar al-Sham, he added.

The monitor said the fighting has so far killed at least 83 people, including 15 civilians.

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(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)