Assad forces launch air strikes on key ISIL sites near Iraq border
Special to WorldTribune.com
NICOSIA — For the first time, Syria has attacked the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Opposition sources said the Syrian Air Force launched air strikes on ISIL positions in northern Syria near the border with Iraq.
They cited air strikes on ISIL headquarters in Raqqa and Hasaka, areas under Al Qaida
control for more than a year.
“This was the first time ISIL was directly attacked by the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime,” a source said.
[On June 16, at least 25 people were killed in barrel bomb attacks on Syria's northern city of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air force targeted Sukari, a neighborhood divided between the regime and rebels.]
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air force
strikes on ISIL took place on June 14-15. Syrian Observatory cited more than
five air force sorties amid the flow of weapons and fighters from
neighboring Iraq. Seven people, including two ISIL fighters, were reported
to have been killed.
“These attacks took place in coordination with Iraqi authorities,”
Syrian Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said.
For more than a year, the opposition has accused ISIL of working with
the Assad regime as well as Iran. In 2014, ISIL killed thousands of rebel
fighters in northern Syria, many of them financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Syria has offered to provide military support to Iraq amid the ISIL
offensive north of Baghdad. The sources said the air force strikes were
meant to disrupt ISIL supplies to the Iraqi city of Mosul.
http://www.worldtribune.com/2014/06/17/assad-forces-launch-air-strikes-isil-n-syria/
