With Syrian forces, backed by Russian and Iranian military assistance, attacking rebel troops and occupying their attention, Islamic State attacked the rebels from the other side on Thursday night, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. By Friday, ISIS had captured a string of towns and villages, starting with a rebel-held Syrian military base, north of Aleppo. Iran also blamed ISIS for the death Thursday afternoon of a senior Revolutionary Guard commander, Gen. Hossein Hamedani, who Iranian state television said "martyred by Daesh [ISIS] terrorists while carrying out an advisory mission in the outskirts of Aleppo."
The surprise attack by ISIS was its biggest advance in months, The Associated Press reports, citing the Observatory. "Why didn't America attack Daesh fighters during their attack?" asked the group's director, Rami Abdurrahman. BBC News explains the complicated tangle of alliances and objectives in Syria in the video below. Peter Weber
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