DAMASCUS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Intense clashes raged Friday between two rival rebel groups in northern Syria, amid calls by other rebel factions for pacifications and cease of rebel-on-rebel conflict, local press and activists reported.
The intensification of battles between the Western-backed Hazm movement and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front came after both parties declared war against one another after incidents of abdication and liquidation took place between both of them in the countryside of the northern province of Aleppo.
The so-called Islamic Front, an alliance of a number of Islamic groups, urged both conflicting parties to cease the battles and focus on fighting the enemy, in reference to the Syrian government troops.
According to media reports, the Hazm Movement is an alliance of self-declared moderate Syrian rebels supplied with BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles in a covert foreign intelligence program launched in 2014.
Scores of the groups' fighters reportedly received military training in Arab countries.
