UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 32 ISIS fighters dead and 40 more injured in Raqqa province on Sunday
At least 32 Islamic State fighters have been killed and 40 more wounded in Syria’s Raqqa province after a series of targeted airstrikes believed to have been carried out by a US-led coalition, a monitoring group said.
More than 15 explosions hit Isis positions in the countryside of Raqqa province and near its capital, Raqqa city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Raqqa is the Syrian stronghold of ISIS. The coalition said it had hit Raqqa and other areas of northern and eastern Syria on Sunday.
However, the strikes on Sunday have also caused dozens of civilian casualties.
Speaking to ARA News in Raqqa, civil rights activists of the campaign “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” reported the death of 15 civilians and the injury of more than 30 others.
The US and its allies have been bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria in an effort to drive the group from swaths of territory it controls in both countries.
There were more than 15 airstrikes on ISIS positions in the countryside of Raqqa province, the observatory said. It was not immediately clear if any of these strikes targeted the city of Raqqa, the self-declared capital of ISIS, which is also in Raqqa province.
It was unclear which country conducting bombing operations in Syria was responsible for the airstrikes against ISIS.
France, Russia and the United States have all carried out airstrikes in and around Raqqa in recent weeks.
The neighboring province of Deir Ezzor has also seen a sharp rise in the number of airstrikes targeting ISIS oil production, refining and transport. These attacks have included strikes against the Omar oilfield, one of the most productive in ISIS territory. Britain’s Royal Air Force has bombed it within the past 48 hours.
