5 civilians dead in Syria rebel, jihadist clashes: monitor

BEIRUT: Five civilians were killed on Saturday in clashes between Syrian rebel groups and jihadists in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitoring group said.

Rebel Islamist groups Ahrar al-Sham and Nureddine al-Zinki launched an operation Tuesday against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance dominated by jihadists once linked to Al-Qaeda, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"It's a war to wipe out" the jihadists, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

HTS is the main force in Idlib but the Islamist groups, which on February 18 announced a merger under the name of Syrian Liberation Front, have captured 26 localities in this week's fighting, the Observatory said.