Turkey-backed rebels capture last IS stronghold near Turkey

The Turkey-backed Syrian rebels captured the city of Jarablus in northern Syria on Wednesday, dislodging the Islamic State (IS) from their last stronghold on the Syrian-Turkish borders, a monitor group reported.

The Syrian rebels backed by Turkish tanks and special forces, as well as air cover by the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, stormed Jarablus, after crossing into that border city from Turkey at dawn Wednesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the Syrian rebels captured the city without mentionable resistance from the IS, which had withdrawn most of its fighters from the city, days before the Wednesday campaign.

The Observatory said the IS sent fighters from the city to the northern city of Bab in Aleppo and the al-Raqqa province, the de facto capital of the IS.

The rebels are not combing the city, as IS sleeping cells are still hiding in that area, the last IS foothold on the borders with Turkey.

With Jarablus now out of hands, the IS lost all routes toward the Turkish borders, but still had access to border towns between Syria and Iraq.

The Turkish-backed campaign came as part of Ankara's double-purpose operation, which aims at clearing the city from the IS and let Syrian rebels fill in the void before the Kurdish fighters could capture the city.

Some observers believed fighting the IS was not the priority of Turkey, saying that Ankara fears the advance of Kurdish forces in northern Syria toward Jarablus.

Turkey, which has more than 20 million Kurds in its southern region, has long opposed any expansion of Kurdish influence near its border, fearing the threat to its territorial integrity. Endit