Turkey-backed Syrian rebels lose 15 in battles with IS

Fighting in northern Syria between Turkeybacked Syrian rebels and Islamic State militants killed at least 15 rebels as the opposition pressed toward a town of symbolic importance for the extremists, an activist group and Turkish officials said Monday.

The Syrian government continued to strike besieged, rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo, hitting the area’s largest hospital, according to activists. A monitoring group said more than 400 civilians have been killed in and around Aleppo since the collapse of a U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire two weeks ago, mainly in the rebel-held east.

In central Syria, meanwhile, two suicide bombers struck the city of Hama close to an office of President Bashar Assad’s Baath party, killing three people and wounding at least 11, state news agency SANA said. IS claimed responsibility in an online statement.