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ISIS fighters battled rival insurgents for control of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts on Friday, an activist group said, attempting to secure a foothold close to President Bashar Assad's seat of power, Reuters reported.

ISIS took most of Yarmouk refugee camp Wednesday, its first major presence in the area around the capital and home to other insurgents.

Their assault has since been bogged down in street fighting with rival Islamist militants, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain.

The ultra-hardline ISIS already controls swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is being targeted by a U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes.

The Observatory said ISIS has executed 69 people, including children under 18 and women, over the past five days as it clashed with the army and other militia around the country.

Several were killed because they were believed to work for the Syrian government, it said, providing a video of nine men who were shot dead.