Is the apocalypse coming for ISIS? Coalition-backed Syrian rebels bear down on the village of Dabiq where Islamist fanatics believe final battle will be held 

Syrian rebels are closing in on a village that ISIS members believe will be the setting of the its final apocalyptic battle.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups, backed by Turkey and a U.S. led coalition, are closing in on the village of Dabiq, the site of a prophesy central to the militant groups ideology.

Although Dabiq, a village in relatively flat countryside northeast of Aleppo, holds little strategic value, it is seen by Islamic State as the place where a battle will take place between Muslims and infidels, heralding Doomsday.

Washington believes taking Dabiq could strike at Islamic State morale, as it prepares to fend off expected offensives against Iraqs Mosul and Syrias Raqqa, the largest cities held by the jihadists, officials from a coalition country said. 

Rebel groups have been pushing southwards into Islamic States territory in an operation backed by Turkey since August, and have taken villages near Dabiq in recent days.

An FSA leader said the plan was to reach Dabiq within 48 hours, but cautioned Islamic State had heavily mined the surrounding area, a sign of its importance to the group.

The group has named its online English-language magazine Dabiq, and in April and May sent about 800 fighters there to defend it against advances by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.

Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad FSA group, said in a voice recording: If matters proceed as planned, within 48 hours we will be in Dabiq,

He added that Islamic State has heavily mined the area, making progress around Turkman Bareh slower than in other areas, with 15 insurgents being kiled in the past 24 hours by mines and mortar fire.

The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State is actively supporting the rebels as they advance to within a few kilometres of (its) weakening stronghold of Dabiq, Brett McGurk, Washingtons special envoy for the coalition, said in a Tweet.

Islamic State has exploited the five-year-old Syrian civil war to seize swathes of territory.

Turkish warplanes hit Islamic State targets in the areas of Dabiq, Akhtarin and Turkman Bareh, destroying nine buildings including a command post, gun positions and an ammunition depot, a statement by Turkeys military said on Monday.

The latest fighting marks an escalation since Turkish troops crossed the border into Syria on Aug. 24 to back opposition fighters battling Islamic State in an operation Ankara says is aimed at removing the border threat the jihadists pose.

Nearly a dozen air strikes by the U.S.-backed coalition killed 13 militants, while the Turkish army said it also fired on Islamic State from inside Turkey after the jihadists used rockets to target its border town of Kilis.