The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Warplanes Pound IS Targets Amid Militant Gains

Strikes have been carried out against targets in Iraq and Syria. File Pic

The US-led coalition has pounded Islamic State targets with 25 airstrikes in a day but jihadists claimed victory in several villages close to the Turkish border.

Five strikes near Baiji destroyed 19 IS buildings as well as vehicles, a mortar system and a weapons cache, according to the Combined Joint Task Force.

There were a further six strikes in Tuz, and others in the Iraqi cities and towns of Falluja, Kisik, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar and Sultan Abdallah.

The coalition also conducted four strikes in Syria, including three that destroyed IS bunkers and an excavator near Al Hawl.

The assault comes as IS seized new territory from Syria rebels.

They are advancing on a border region where Turkey and the US are planning a new front.

The NATO allies plan to provide air cover for what Washington judges to be moderate Syrian rebels to flush IS from a 50-mile long region.

Diplomats believe cutting IS access to the Turkish border, across which they can bring foreign fighters and supplies, could be a game-changer.

:: Britain extends air strikes against IS

But IS have now taken control of several villages in the northern Aleppo province in a serious blow to these so-called moderate fighters.

The militants have almost encircled the rebel-held town of Marea, 12 miles from the Turkish border, a rebel leader fighting against the group said.

“If its progress continues, the northern countryside of Aleppo could fall,” another rebel said. “If Marea falls, it means the fall of an important symbol of the groups fighting Daesh (IS).”

The jihadists are using “toxic gases” while shelling the town, the rebels have claimed.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has said it recently treated a family from Marea suffering symptoms of exposure to chemical agents.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group tracking the war, said IS had gained control of five villages from rebels, including two near the Turkish border.

IS has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria over the past year.

Earlier this month it emerged militants had destroyed a 1st Century temple at Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra.

SKY NEWS