ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic State (ISIS) have managed to seize more opposition-held villages in Syria's Aleppo region near the border with Turkey. "Fierce clashes are raging between rebels and ISIS after the jihadists secured an advance and seized control of six villages near the Turkish border," reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor on Thursday. The most significant of the villages they captured was Hiwar Kallis, which is situated approximately a kilometer south of the Turkish border. The Observatory reports that warplanes, likely belonging to the US-led coalition, bombed ISIS shortly thereafter. ISIS has been battling opposition fighters and militants such as Jabhat al-Nusra for control over that northwestern border area since it is of vital strategic importance for them to smuggle in both new recruits and weapons. The rebels and militants had been forcing ISIS from the region but ISIS pushed back retaking the village of Al-Rai last Monday a mere three days after they had been pushed out of it. Human Rights Watch reported on Friday that 30,000 people have been displaced by this fighting and consequently urged the Turkish government to open its border and provide them with sanctuary.
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