Jihadists pull out of north Syria town: monitor

Jihadists today withdrew from Saraqeb, their last bastion in the Syrian province of Idlib, five days into a major battle in the town against local rebels, a monitor said.
In the region of Aleppo, rebels also made advances except in Jarabolos on the border with Turkey, which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant withdrew at dawn today from Saraqeb to Sermin."
"ISIL withdrew after their situation there became very hard... And after they were besieged by Islamist and moderate rebel groups from all sides," said Abdel Rahman.

Their retreat comes two weeks into a major rebel offensive against the jihadist ISIL.
While rebels and jihadists were once allied in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad, ISIL's quest for hegemony and its horrific abuses against the local population and opposition has turned rebels -- including other Islamists -- against them.

Abu Leila, a rebel from Idlib who is opposed to both Assad and ISIL, told AFP that the jihadists "withdrew to save themselves".
Dozens of ISIL fighters were killed or injured in the fighting for Saraqeb, where a major battle pitting rebels and jihadists broke out on Monday.

Saraqeb was once a source of inspiration for moderate activists using art and other peaceful means to protest Assad's regime.
Long out of regime control, it fell to ISIL last month.
The fighting is part of a rebel offensive against ISIL in several parts of Syria, which in two weeks has killed nearly 1,100 people.
In Aleppo, two ISIL suicide bombers detonated themselves near checkpoints manned by rival rebels, said the Aleppo Media Centre, a grassroots network of citizen journalists.
ISIL has staged some two dozen suicide attacks in the past two weeks targeting rebel positions, killing scores of opposition fighters and civilians.

In Jarabolos, on Aleppo province's border with Turkey, ISIL "took total control... After fierce fighting against rebels," said the Observatory.
Abdel Rahman also said ISIL summarily executed several rebels captured during the fighting.
But in another part of the province, rebels pushed out ISIL fighters from Base 46, a strategic army post they had turned into a jihadist bastion.
According to the Observatory, 12 ISIL members were killed there, while 20 others, "all foreigners," surrendered to the rebels.