Rights group: IS and Nusra Front, former rivals, team up against moderates in Idlib

IDLIB, Syria, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A human rights group says Islamic State forces teamed with a rival faction -- al-Qaida-backed Nusra Front -- to push moderate rebels from a province in northwestern Syria.

The move illustrates a change in the normally rocky relations between the two Islamic extremist groups. Al-Qaida, which felt Syrian operations should be left to the Nusra Front, broke ties with IS after the rapidly expanding group grew beyond its control.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Saturday that IS fighters moved individually to support the Nusra Front against Syrian Revolutionary Forces in villages within the Idlib province.

The SRF are considered moderate rebel forces and are backed by Western powers. In 24 hours of fighting, the group was pushed from Idlib, with some SRF fighters joining Nusra Front ranks. Many of the fighters complained that U.S. and Arab country support had not been sufficient, Al Jazeera reports.

The attack on Idlib city began Monday, and Nusra Front fighters reportedly also clashed with Syrian government forces, which have controlled the city since 2012.

SRF forces now only have a presence in Syria's south, while jihadist groups like Nusra Front and IS increasingly gain control of areas in the north and east and Assad's government forces take ground in the south and west.