Islamic State kills dozens of regime opponents in Syria

Fierce clashes erupted after IS militants seized control of the opposition-held town and nearby Turkmen villages of Barih, Aziziyah, and Khoz earlier in the day, Yaser Ahmed, media officer for the pro-opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria, told the Anadolu Agency. Ahmed added that the dead dissidents include women and children. Amid ongoing clashes between militants and armed opposition forces, many locals in the region have reportedly begun fleeing to Azez district near the country's border with Turkey. "The people in fear of IS militants are escaping towards safer regions. Hundreds of families have arrived in Azez today, said Ahmed. Beha Abu Jamal, a local activist in Aleppo, earlier told the AA that IS militants have tightened their grip in the north of Aleppo and around Hasakah on Wednesday, attacking the regime-held Tabkha military airport in Raqqa city with heavy weapons. Barrel bomb attack leaves 17 dead in Aleppo Meanwhile, Syrian regime helicopters have shelled barrel bombs on opposition-controlled Bab Neirab and Shaar areas of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission.

A SRGC official said seventeen people were killed and many others injured in the bombardment that caused major material damage to the region.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011. Last month, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that more than 133,000 people had been killed in Syrian regime attacks.

The threat from the armed groups spearheaded by the IS has added to the already volatile security situation in the war-ridden country, as they are battling with the opposition groups in the country in a bid to expand the territory of their self-declared caliphate, or "Islamic State."