Rebel infighting kills 5 near Iraqi border

BEIRUT — Al-Qaida-affiliated rebels battled more moderate Syrian opposition fighters in a town along the Iraqi border Saturday, killing at least five people in the latest outbreak of infighting among the forces opposed to President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Clashes between rebel groups, particularly pitting al-Qaida-linked extremist factions against more moderate units, have grown increasingly common in recent months, undermining the opposition’s primary goal of overthrowing Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s fighting took place in the town of al-Boukamal between the al-Qaidalinked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant against more mainstream rebel groups.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the more moderate rebels used mosque loudspeakers Friday to demand the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant leave Boukamal. When it was clear Saturday the ISIL had no plans to decamp, the mainstream groups attacked, Abdul-Rahman said. Three mainstream rebels and two ISIL fighters were killed in the clashes, he said.

It was not clear what spurred the demands for ISIL to leave Boukamal.

After months of growing tensions, infighting among Syria’s mosaic of rebel factions broke into the open in July.

The moderates once valued the expertise and resources that the Islamic extremist brigades brought to the battlefield, and rebel factions of all stripes enter into occasional alliances for specific operations. But many of the moderates now question whether such military assets are worth the trouble — not to mention the difficulty in persuading the West to arm them.

To the south, the Observatory said government forces shelled the village of Ghadir al-Bustan, killing at least five people, including a child and a woman.