Published January 08, 2015
Syrian activists say rebel factions affiliated with a powerful tribe in an eastern stronghold of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate have pledged allegiance to the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
In an activist video posted online Thursday by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a man is seen reading a statement in which "the people of the town" of Sheheil "swear allegiance" to the extremist group and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group, which was ejected from al-Qaida earlier this year, recently declared an Islamic state in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq.
Most Syrian rebel groups have rejected the declaration and have fought al-Baghdadi's militants in towns along the Iraq border, including in Sheheil, a stronghold of the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's official Syrian branch.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/syrian-activists-say-powerful-tribe-in-town-near-iraq-pledge-allegiance-to-jihadi-group