Syria rebels push ISIL back further back from supply route

A Syrian rebel alliance has pushed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group jihadists further away from one of its key supply routes from neighbouring Turkey, a monitoring group said June 13. 
 
The Islamist rebels ousted ISIL from the village of Al-Bal, which it captured on June 9, threatening the Bab al-Salama border crossing, just 10 kilometres (six miles) away, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
 
The village's recapture late June 12 came after heavy fighting, which killed 14 rebels and 15 ISIL jihadists, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
 
Further south, the rebels were fighting to defend the town of Marea, on the road between the crossing and the rebel-held eastern sector of the main northern city of Aleppo.

Activists said the rebels were simultaneously launching their own attacks on ISIL positions in the area. 

"The ultimate goal for ISIL is to cut off this crossing," said Abdel Rahman.
 
Mamun Abu Omar, head of a local pro-rebel press agency, said "ISIL is trying to surround the town by occupying the villages all around it."

The rebel alliance is fighting both ISIL and government forces in Aleppo province, which is one of the most complex battlegrounds of Syria's multi-front civil war.
 
In some areas, it is supported by fighters of IS's jihadist rival, Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front. 
 
ISIL fighters control areas in the province's east, and have been laying siege to the Kweyris military airport, still controlled by the regime. 
 
Early June 13, three government officers were killed when their helicopter was shot down by ISIL just outside the airport, Abdel Rahman told AFP.
 
"All three officers were killed, but it's not...