ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized more territory from its armed opponents on Syria's northwestern border with Turkey on Friday, capturing several villages north of Aleppo, said a Syrian activist group.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS are close to cutting off an important town north of Aleppo, Marea, after seizing villages around it.
This advance is reportedly bringing the militants closer to Azaz.
Turkey has been backing a number of Syrian armed groups in that area against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, largely due to the fact it doesn't want Syrian Kurdish forces enter the 60-mile stretch of northwestern border territory known as the Jarablus-Azaz line.
Jarablus, just west of the Euphrates remains under ISIS occupation while Azaz is occupied by an assortment of Islamist groups.
Turkish-backed fighters successfully forced ISIS from the town of Al-Rai in that region in April but were forced out again by an ISIS counter-attack four days later.
Ankara's opposition to any YPG advance in that area was enforced in February after the YPG briefly advanced eastward from Afrin against Islamist militants in the Menagh airbase south of Azaz. Turkey responded to their offensive by launching cross-border artillery attacks against YPG positions forcing them to withdraw.
An ISIS advance on Azaz would put that group in a more dominant position along the Syrian-Turkish border and would also enable it to threaten Afrin as well as Kobani.
ISIS’s advance on Friday comes in the midst of an going fierce battle between Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and members of the radical group in Raqqa province since Tuesday.
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