19 die as Syrian rebels clash with government troops

People clear an area, previously controlled by Islamic State fighters, that was hit by an airstrike the day before, craters visible top left, west of Kobani, Syria, as seen from a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, near the Turkey-Syria border on Oct. 24, 2014.

Activists say Syrian rebels have attacked a government-held city in the country’s northwest and that 19 men died on both sides in the clashes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels from the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and other groups shelled Idlib and simultaneously attacked army checkpoints there.

It says nine rebels and 10 soldiers died in Monday’s fighting.

Syrian state TV says government forces repelled the attack and that a “large number of terrorists” were killed. It claimed life returned to normal in the city.

Syrian rebels control large parts of Idlib province, which borders Turkey, while government forces hold the provincial capital, also called Idlib.

Nusra Front’s main rebel rivals, the Islamic State group, controls a third of Syria but its territory is further west from Idlib.