News / Military

US airstrikes kill 170 ISIL terrorists in Syria in 48 hours: Sources

Tuesday, 19 May 2015 5:35 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 May 2015 5:49 PM ]

US-led airstrikes have targeted ISIL positions in northeastern Syria, killing about 170 terrorists in the past 48 hours, a monitoring group says.

Airstrikes led by the United States have targeted ISIL positions in northeastern Syria, killing about 170 terrorists in the past 48 hours, sources say.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of spies inside Syria working for the foreign-backed Syrian opposition, said on Tuesday that the terrorists were killed “in the province of Hasakeh, nearly all of them in very intense air strikes by the international coalition which is helping Kurdish forces in the area.”

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said in a statement that the US-led military coalition’s fighter jets carried out seven airstrikes near Hasakeh.

The strikes hit four ISIL tactical units, destroying seven vehicles, three fighting positions, two armored vehicles and a shipping container.

"In northern Syria, Daesh (ISIL) continues to cede military capacity, fighters and terrain," said Marine Corps Brigadier General Thomas Weidley, chief of staff for the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

"The coalition remains committed to targeting Daesh across Iraq and Syria," he added.

Earlier this week, a US raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the ISIL terrorist group, including four of its leaders, the monitoring group said.

A V-22 Osprey flies in Ramadi west of Baghdad, Iraq. The aircraft were used by US Army commandos in an operation on early on Saturday against ISIL militants in Syria.

The operation was launched by US by US Special Operations forces in Deir ez-Zor province, without coordination with the Syrian government, on Friday night that continued into Saturday morning.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Since late September, the US and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Apparently, this was first time since the US had started bombing ISIL positions that American troops slipped into Syria and carried out a raid against militants.

GJH/GJH

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