A man walks past damaged buildings after US-led air strikes in Aleppo last week. Photograph: Abdalghne Karoof/Reuters
US-led forces launched air strikes overnight on territory controlled
by Islamic State (Isis) in northern and eastern Syria while the Syrian
army continued bombing areas in the west, according to a group
monitoring the war.
The US has been carrying out strikes in Iraq against the militant
group since last month and in Syria since last week with the help of
Arab allies. It aims to destroy the bases and forces of the al-Qaida
offshoot that has captured large areas of both countries.
The overnight raids hit Isis in the northern Syrian town of Manbij,
said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which
gathers information from sources in Syria.
Manbij sits between Aleppo city in the west and Kobani on the
northern border with Turkey, which Isis has been trying to capture from
Kurdish forces, forcing tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee over
the frontier.
Syria’s army carried out air raids in Aleppo province overnight,
targeting areas east of Aleppo city with barrel bombs and other
projectiles, the observatory said. It also carried out air strikes in
Hama, western Syria.
Forces loyal to Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, have been
battling Islamist fighters around Aleppo, which is held by a number of
groups in Syria’s civil war.
In eastern Syria, US-led forces bombed a gas plant controlled by
Islamic State outside Deir al-Zor city, wounding several militants, the
observatory said.
The US has said it wants strikes to target oil facilities held by
Islamic State to try to stem a source of revenue for the group.
The raid hit Kuniko gas plant, which feeds a power station in Homs
that provides several provinces with electricity and powers oil fields
generators, the observatory said.
Coalition warplanes also hit areas of Hasaka city in the north-east
and the outskirts of the Isis stronghold of Raqqa city in the north.
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