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(CNN) -- After three years of seesaw battles with the regime, Syrian rebels now face another daunting challenge: fending off radical Sunni militants who are taking over swaths of the country.
Floodgates open as ISIS takes over swaths of both Syria and Iraq
updated 5:43 PM EDT, Tue July 8, 2014
People walk on a dust-filled
street after a reported barrel-bomb attack by Syrian government forces
in Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, July 7. The United Nations estimates more
than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising in March
2011 spiraled into civil war.
HIDE CAPTION
Syrian civil war in 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- ISIS militants now control large stretches of Syria and Iraq, sources say
- They have been trying to create and Islamist state spanning both countries
- ISIS has also gained 6 oil and gas fields in Syria
- Syrian rebels threaten to stop fighting ISIS if they don't get supplies and support
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
has gained notoriety in recent weeks after capturing city after city in
Iraq. It's goal: To create a caliphate, or Islamic state, spanning Iraq
and Syria.
Now, the crises in both
countries are blending into a combined regional disaster as ISIS now
controls land on both sides of the border -- opening the floodgates for
weapons and fighters between Syria and Iraq.
All the cities between Deir Ezzor city and the Iraq border --
a stretch of 90 miles (150 kilometers) -- have fallen to ISIS, said
Omar Abu Leila, a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Deir Ezzor itself is controlled partly by the government and partly by opposition militants, he said.
That's not all. ISIS also
took over six Syrian oil and gas fields and a major pumping station
that distributes oil from Iraq into Syria, Abu Leila said.
The captures include the
al-Omar oil field, Syria's largest oil facility that can produce 75,000
barrels of oil a day. ISIS has also seized a military airport and a
local army base.
The land grabs by ISIS
now stretch from Syria's Deir Ezzor province to the group's recently
gained territories in Iraq's Sunni heartland, the opposition Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
Some Syrians turn to ISIS
ISIS has gained not just cities, but also some Syrians' claims of allegiance.
After capturing the town
of al-Shahil, ISIS demanded last week that fighters surrender their
weapons and repent for fighting ISIS.
The militants then
called on residents to leave the town for a week to 10 days until "peace
returns to the streets," according to a social media video obtained by
activists.
In a video statement, leaders in the town of al-Shahil announced their withdrawal from all anti-ISIS groups.
A town representative announced by video that they "decided to swear allegiance" to shadowy ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
But about 30,000 people have fled the town, Abu Leila said.
Other Syrians flee
Days after their land
grabs across Deir Ezzor province, ISIS militants have not let residents
return to the towns of Khsham and Tabyeh, the SOHR said.
About 15,000 people lived in each town.
The residents were
forced to leave on June 23. They had been told to "accept their
repentance" after fighting ISIS, the SOHR said.
ISIS militants have
already declared they have set up an Islamic state spanning large areas
of the two countries. The group called on Muslims to swear allegiance to
the caliphate.
The message claims that
the group's territory now spans from Aleppo province in northwestern
Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq. It announced that ISIS was
changing its name to just the "Islamic State."
But both Shia and Sunni Muslims have been deeply offended by the claim.
Syrian rebels demand help
A group of 11 battalions
fighting ISIS in Syria has threatened to stop battling the insurgents
by the end of this week if they don't get supplies and support from
their Western-backed interim government.
The demand, posted on
the Facebook page of one of the battalions, was addressed to the Syrian
Coalition and the Syrian interim government -- both of which are
Western-backed rebel groups fighting the Syrian regime.
"We ask for
reinforcement and full support to face (ISIS), and expel them from our
land, and stop them from advancing on the liberated cities," the
statement said.
"If our call is not answered, we will be forced to lay down our weapons and pull our fighters from the areas we control."
Syrian Coalition
spokeswoman Bayan Khatib relayed the group's demands to the media,
saying ISIS is not only a threat to Syria, but to the West as well.
"The Free Syrian Army
has made significant gains in Syria, but ISIS has consistently battled
them for these areas and often won," Khatib said.
The demands come after
ISIS made advances in Deir Ezzor and, more alarmingly, the suburbs of
Aleppo -- Syria's largest city, Khatib said.
The rebels "have been
screaming at the top of their lungs for months for assistance that never
came," Khatib said. "In their statement, they predict that ISIS will
take over all opposition territory in Syria unless decisive action is
taken promptly."
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