Nearly 700 people have been killed in nine days of fierce clashes between an al Qaeda affiliate and other Islamist and rebel groups, activists said Sunday. Forces from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have increasingly come into conflict with Free Syrian Army fighters and other hard-line factions opposing the Syrian regime, while ISIS attempts to impose its strict form of Islamic Sharia law on areas coming under its control in northern Syria. In the last nine days, 697 people have been killed in the fighting, activists said. The victims include 351 combatants from the Islamist and non-Islamist rebel battalions, 246 ISIS fighters, and 100 civilians, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
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Kerry says he's confident Syrian opposition will attend Paris talks
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U.N humanitarian chief visits Damascus, expresses concern for displaced persons
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Activists say 697 people killed in nine days of rebel fighting
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Al Qaeda-affiliated ISIS forces battling Free Syrian Army fighters, other factions
"We call on @placeholder brigades to work with civil revolutionary bodies and local councils operating in those areas to address the threat of those gangs, and make sure those gangsters are hunted down and brought to justice," the statement said.