Rebel-Kurd Clashes Kill 11 In North Syria

Nearly a dozen Syrian rebels have been killed in hit-and-run clashes with a US-backed alliance dominated by Kurdish forces in the country's north, a monitoring group said today.

Rebels were locked in their second day of fighting on Thursday with units from the Syrian Democratic Forces around the village of Ain Daqna.

Ain Daqna, in Aleppo province, has been held by the US- backed SDF since February. It lies in a contested sliver of land between the alliance and Turkish-backed rebels.

Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti- government protests, but it has since evolved into a complex civil war drawing in regional powers.

Turkey has backed rebels in Syria's north to take on both the Islamic State group as well as the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which make up the bulk of the SDF.

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group and the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have accused the YPG of razing villages and displacing residents in northern Syria, which the militia has denied.