At least 10 people, including four children, were killed Friday in air strikes against ISIS in the eastern Deir Ezzour region in Syria, reported activists and the SANA news agency. The airstrike on the village of Kishkiyeh was carried out by the US-led coalition, it added. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have recently intensified their offensive in the last area held by ISIS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzour under the cover of airstrikes by the coalition. Hundreds have been killed in the fighting over the past three months. The DeirEzzor 24 activist collective said 11 people were killed, including two women and four children in the airstrike on the village. It also blamed the US-led coalition. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor with activists on the ground in Syria, said that more than 12,000 people have fled the ISIS-held pocket in recent weeks, adding that there are divisions among the extremists over whether to surrender or continue fighting. It said some 500 ISIS fighters fled among the civilians, but were later detained by SDF fighters. The Observatory said some 1,000 people have fled since Wednesday from the ISIS-held pocket into areas controlled by the US-backed SDF. Meanwhile, infighting between rival Syrian factions spread across the northwest of the country. Tahrir al-Sham, formerly affiliated to al-Qaeda, had launched an attack on Tuesday against towns in the western countryside of Aleppo held by Nour al Din Zinki, a member of the mainstream National Liberation Front (NLF), the opposition and residents told Reuters by telephone. The extremist group, which on Wednesday seized the town of Darat Izza, said it was retaliating for an ambush this week that killed five of its fighters. It blamed Nour al Din Zinki. Ideological differences divide hardline militants from nationalist groups in the Free Syrian Army that have gathered under the banner of the NLF, which has the backing of Syria’s neighbor Turkey. Infighting has long plagued Syria’s armed opposition since the uprising against regime leader Bashar Assad began in 2011. Turf wars have helped Assad, with his Iranian and Russian allies, recover much of the territory previously held by the opposition. An opposition source said capturing the town of Darat Izza would strengthen the group in secret talks with Turkey, which has a military foothold in the northern region and wants to tighten its grip on the area to secure its border. The goal was to create a contiguous stretch of territory from areas they control north of Idlib near the Turkish border to strongholds in the Aleppo countryside, said a senior Western diplomat closely following Syria who requested anonymity. In a further bout of tit-for-tat fighting, NLF forces who sent more deployments and announced a call for war, attacked Tahrir al-Sham strongholds and checkpoints in Idlib province, residents and opposition factions said. “We hold Tahrir al-Sham responsible for the dangerous and catastrophic repercussions that result from its escalation and call on its wise men to stop the fighting and preserve what is left of the revolution,” the NLF said in statement. Residents say the NLF has made little progress in dislodging the militants from Saraqeb, one of the main cities they hold in Idlib province. Fears however grew that fighting that has mostly avoided civilian areas could spill over into heavily populated urban areas. Dozens have so far been killed and wounded, the opposition said.