GREATEST WAR EVER:

Syrian rebels backed by Turkey have launched an offensive against the Islamic State held town of Dabiq, which holds religious and symbolic meaning for the terror group.

Fighting on the outskirts of the town in northern Syria intensified Sunday night, when some 15 rebels were killed and 35 wounded during heavy clashes, the Turkish military said. The rebel advance was aided by heavy air and artillery support from the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, the Turkish military said. Airstrikes killed 13 Islamic State militants, it said.

"We are very close to Dabiq.... We have planned for this," said Ahmad Othman, commander of the Sultan Murad group, one of the Turkish-backed rebel factions advancing on the town.

Dabiq, about 6 miles from the Turkish border, has played a unique role in Islamic State's propaganda since it was seized by the group in 2014.

Sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad identify the town as the site of an apocalyptic future battle where a Muslim army will defeat its enemies, including a foreign army.

Islamic State's belief in the ancient prophecy has helped fuel the establishment of its self-declared caliphate stretching across large sections of Syria and Iraq. The group named its official English-language magazine, Dabiq, after the town. 

At least two suicide bombers detonated explosive belts in Syria's central Hama city on Monday, leaving two people dead and others wounded, state media reported. [...]

In the first months of Syria's uprising, which broke out in March 2011, Hama saw some of the largest demonstrations against the rule of President Bashar Assad.

But later that year security forces stormed the city, killing scores of people. They have held a tight grip on the city ever since.

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