Coalition airstrikes kill 170 Islamic State fighters in 2 days

Monitoring group says US, allies target jihadist group in eastern Syria, destroying vehicles and positions

By AFP 19 May 2015, 9:30 pm

Edit

A pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Sept. 23, 2014. (US Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew Bruch)

Airstrikes by a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria have killed around 170 jihadists in the past 48 hours, a monitoring group said Tuesday.

“The jihadists were killed in the past 48 hours in the province of Hasakeh, nearly all of them in very intense airstrikes by the international coalition which is helping Kurdish forces in the area,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In its latest update on the coalition’s operations, the US military said in a statement that the alliance’s warplanes carried out seven strikes near Hasakeh.

They struck four IS tactical units, destroying seven vehicles, three fighting positions, two armored vehicles and a shipping container.

“In northern Syria, Daesh continues to cede military capacity, fighters and terrain,” US Brigadier General Thomas Weidley said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.