Syrian regime airstrikes kill 38 IS fighters — monitor
Homs attacks come as Assad's air force is strengthened by recent Russian support, including training and jets
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 38 Islamic State group fighters were killed in airstrikes by the Damascus regime against three jihadist-held towns in central Syria, a monitoring group said Tuesday.
Monday’s strikes hit Palmyra and two other towns in Homs province, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The Syrian air force has been increasing its strikes against IS in recent days as it received reinforcements from Russia, he said.
“The number of raids is growing and the strikes are more precise after the Syrian air force received arms and more efficient planes from Moscow,” said Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on broad a network of civilian, military and medical sources inside Syria.
Experts close to the regime have told AFP that Russia has sent advisers to train Syrian troops in the new weapons, in particular short-range air defense systems and tanks.
US military officials said Monday that Russia has deployed 28 combat planes in Syria, in the latest move in Moscow’s increasing military presence in the war-torn country.
Washington in recent weeks has expressed growing concern over Russia’s moves to support Syrian President Bashar Assad and warned that military backing for his regime risks further hampering efforts at bringing peace.
Moscow has been on a diplomatic push to get the coalition of Western and regional powers fighting IS in Syria to join forces with Assad against the jihadists.
On Monday, the Observatory reported that Islamic State jihadist group executed nine men and a boy in central and northern Syria for being gay.
The jihadists shot dead seven men in Rastan, a town in Homs province of central Syria, “after accusing them of being homosexual.”
IS also executed two men and the boy in the town of Hreitan, in the northern province of Aleppo, for the same reason, said Observatory head Abdel Rahman.
He said the executions were carried out in public, but that IS fighters destroyed any cameras that had been used to film the killings.
IS has used brutal violence to enforce its rule in the so-called “caliphate” it declared in territory straddling Iraq and Syria.
Along with homosexuality, witchcraft and loyalty to Assad are also considered capital punishment offenses in IS-controlled areas.
In previous cases, IS has beheaded alleged homosexuals or thrown them from rooftops.
According to the Observatory, IS has executed more than 3,000 people, including at least 1,800 civilians, since it announced its caliphate in June 2014.