ISIL regains Syrian stronghold near Turkey border: monitor

AMMAN - Reuters

Fighters from the Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army), the foremost rebel group in Damascus province who fiercely opposed to both the Syrian regime and ISIL, hold a position in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern edges of the capital, on April 10, 2016 - AFP photo

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants took back a stronghold in Syria near the border with Turkey on April 11, four days after losing it to a grouping of rebels, a monitoring group said. 

The ultra-hardline Islamist group seized the town of al-Rai from factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, part of months of back-and-forth fighting in northern Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. 

ISIL has declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate in Syria and neighbouring Iraq and is also battling other insurgent groups caught up in Syria's civil war.  

It has made steady gains near the Azaz border crossing with Turkey since last May, but has been pushed back in a number of areas in recent months by rival rebels and Syrian government forces supported by Russian air strikes.