US-led coalition jets pound IS stronghold in Syria
This US Air Forces Central Command photo released by the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) shows a formation of US Navy F-18E Super Hornets in flight after receiving fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over northern Iraq, on September 23, 2014. These aircraft were part of a large coalition strike package that was the first to strike ISIL targets in Syria. AFP FILE PHOTO/US Air Forces Central Command via DVIDS/Staff Sgt. Shawn Nickel
BEIRUT, Lebanon—United States-led coalition warplanes carried out more than a dozen airstrikes overnight in and around the Islamic State group’s de facto capital in northeastern Syria, three activist groups said Friday.
The air raids on the outskirts of Raqqa were the heaviest coalition strikes on the city along the Euphrates River since Islamic State group militants captured a Jordanian pilot after his F-16 jet went down near the city on Dec. 24.
The anti-Islamic State activist group called Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered reported on Friday at least 13 coalition strikes. It said the Furoussiyeh area and the Division 17 military base were among the targets hit.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective also confirmed the air raids.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
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