REPORT: ISIL HQ in Aleppo seized by rebels -Observatory

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that fighters from several Syrian rebel brigades have seized the headquarters of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the main northern city of Aleppo.     

The Observatory noted that fighters took control of the children's hospital in the Qadi Askar district, which is the headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the city.

As for the ISIL fighters who were inside the headquarters, the Observatory said it was unclear what had happened to them.                   

ISIL is the restructured al Qaeda branch of Iraq, but its spread into Syria is opposed by al Qaeda's central leadership, which has recognized the Nusra Front instead.                    

On Tuesday, an al Qaeda affiliate based in Iraq and Syria has vowed to crush rebel groups fighting it and to target members loyal to the Syrian National Coalition, the internationally recognized opposition trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.           

The audio statement from the spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was issued hours after the head of the al Qaeda branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, called for a truce to halt five days of heavy rebel infighting. 

OPCW:

The global chemical weapons watchdog is urging Syria to intensify efforts to get its stockpile of raw materials for poison gas and nerve agents to a port, so it can be shipped out of the country and destroyed.         

The appeal was made Wednesday, a day after the first batch of toxic chemicals  believed to be precursors for mustard gas and sarin  was loaded onto a Danish cargo ship in the Syrian port of Latakia and shipped toward international waters.            

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons spokesman Michael Luhan says the Nobel Peace Prize-winning watchdog is "exhorting the Syrian government to intensify its efforts so we can conclude this critical part of this mission absolutely as fast as conditions allow."