FSA factions battle IS near Jordan

FSA factions battle IS near Jordan
Free Syrian Army factions in the Southern Front are battling the IS affiliate in towns near Jordan.
2 min read
12 June, 2016
FSA factions have been battling the IS affiliate in Deraa [Getty]
A spokesman for the Southern Front FSA factions Abu Ghaith al-Badawi has said that the FSA have been battling IS affiliate Yarmouk Martyrs Brigades in Southern Syria on the outskirts of the town of Ain, currently under control of IS.

Al-Badawi described the attack as "the first of its kind in terms of size" and aimed at restoring IS-controlled towns to their control in the area bordering Jordan.  

He said that the opposition factions have a military strategy that differs from its predecessors in the past two months, but didn’t give further details about the attack.  

Several factions of the Free Syrian Army, as well as Ahrar al-Sham have been fighting with groups allied to IS in the Yarmouk region for nearly three months.  

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade is the largest faction that swore allegiance to IS in the countryside of Daraa.

Last month it united with other factions to form the Khaled Ibn al-Walid Army to co-ordinate in their battles against the Syrian opposition factions in the Yarmouk Basin - the border triangle between Syria, Jordan and Palestine.  

In March Syrian rebels seized control al-Tanf, an Islamic State group controlled town on the Syria-Iraq border, with apparant Jordanian support, activists said at the time.

US-trained fighters from the New Syrian Army and Free Syrian Army faction the Southern Front reportedly crossed into Syria from Jordan and took control of al-Tanf which lies close to Jordanian territory.