World Bulletin / News Desk

Syrian opposition forces on Sunday captured three villages on Aleppo’s northern outskirts from the ISIL terrorist group, according to the leader of an armed opposition faction.

Armed opposition groups operating under the umbrella of the "Hur Kilis Operations Room" took control of three villages in Aleppo’s northern countryside "following fierce battles with ISIL", Lieutenant-Colonel Mohamed Hassan Khalil, a commander of the opposition Al-Mutasim Brigade, told Anadolu Agency.

Opposition fighters, he added, had also approached the strategic town of Al-Raei.

According to Khalil, opposition factions have captured the villages of Tel-Shair, Qsajk and Tel Battal after pitched battles with ISIL that left casualties on both sides.

The commander said that opposition fighters were now only 5 kilometers from the town of Al-Raei, considered a primary opposition objective due to its strategic location between Aleppo’s eastern and northern outskirts.

Control of the town, he noted, would allow opposition fighters to lay siege to positions still held by ISIL in Aleppo’s northern countryside and cut the group’s supply lines.

Al-Raei could also be used by opposition groups as a staging ground for future operations against ISIL-held positions to the east and south, Khalil said.

Khalil went on to note that the primary dangers faced by the opposition groups currently fighting ISIL were improvised mines, booby-trapped vehicles and suicide bombers.