An al-Qaida affiliate based in Iraq and Syria has vowed to crush opposition groups it has been confronting in the worst outbreak of infighting among rebels since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Heavy fighting between rebels in Syria has killed hundreds of people over the last five days and rattled the al-Qaida-linked faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The group lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
The statement from the ISIL spokesman was issued late on Tuesday, hours after the head of the al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, called for a truce to halt the fighting.