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Islamic State militants war with rival Syrian rebels in Damascus

Clashes between Islamic State forces and Islamist battalions Jaysh al-Islam and Ajnad al-Sham broke out over the weekend.

By Fred Lambert
A Syrian rebel fighter surveys the situation in Aleppo, Syria, on Sept. 12, 2012. Islamic State forces on Sept. 1, 2015, are reported to be battling rival rebel factions in neighborhoods on the southern outskirts of Damascus. File photo by Ahmad Deeb/UPI
A Syrian rebel fighter surveys the situation in Aleppo, Syria, on Sept. 12, 2012. Islamic State forces on Sept. 1, 2015, are reported to be battling rival rebel factions in neighborhoods on the southern outskirts of Damascus. File photo by Ahmad Deeb/UPI | License Photo

DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Militants with the Islamic State are battling rival Syrian rebels in neighborhoods on the southern outskirts of Damascus, according to reports.

The BBC reports IS forces launched attacks from the Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood, which they have held since July 2014, on Islamist rebel battalion Jaysh al-Islam, in the Qadam district, and on rebel group Ajnad al-Sham, in the Asali district.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Aug. 28 IS forces fighting unnamed Islamist rebel battalions in the area between Hajar al-Aswad, the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and the town of Yalda, in the countryside south of the capital.

Two days later, SOHR reported IS militants were assaulting the Qadam district and that 15 fighters were killed on both sides. On Aug. 31 the monitoring group said IS was continuing its assault and that one fighter had been killed among the Islamist rebel battalions.

There have been no reports of fighting between IS and regime forces in the area, but SOHR indicated weekend battles between rebel factions and the Syrian military were ongoing in the city's southern Tadamon neighborhood.

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Exchanges of shell fire between rebels and the regime meanwhile continue killing civilians in Damascus, including in the Jobar neighborhood, where rebel forces have in the past been reported to launch mortar fire into Damascus before absorbing a response from the Syrian military. Earlier this month, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad discovered a nearly 2,000-foot long rebel tunnel in the neighborhood.

IS forces have been known to take on rival rebel factions, recently killing at least 20 rebels with the al-Shaitaat tribe in the town of Mare' and another 40 rival insurgents in the town of Om Hosh, both located in Aleppo province to the north.

Amid fighting in Damascus on Tuesday, IS forces were also confirmed to have destroyed the ancient Temple of Bel, located in the ruins of Palmyra, in Homs province, to the east.

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