66,000 displaced in North Syria fighting

“This includes nearly 40,000 people from AlBab city and nearby Taduf town, as well as 26,000 people from communities to the east of Al-Bab” in northern Aleppo province, OCHA said. 

Turkey-backed rebels seized Al-Bab from the ISIS group on Feb 23 after several months of fighting. OCHA said the 39,766 people displaced from the town fled north to areas controlled by other rebel forces, and that the “high contamination” of unexploded bombs and booby traps set by  retreating jihadists was complicating efforts to return. And since Feb 25, OCHA said, another 26,000 people fled violence east of Al-Bab, where Syrian government forces have also been waging a fierce offensive against ISIS.    

Many of those people sought refuge in areas around Manbij, a town controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. On Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for HR monitoring group had said 30,000 people had been displaced by fighting between government forces and ISIS terrorists. 

Since war broke out in Syria in 2011, more than half of its population has been forced to flee their homes. Aleppo province hosts tens of thousands of displaced Syrians.