US-led strikes in Syria kill 170 IS jihadists in 48 hours

BEIRUT - Air strikes by a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria have killed around 170 jihadists in the past 48 hours, a monitoring group said Tuesday.

"The jihadists were killed in the past 48 hours 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," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In its latest update on the coalition's operations, the US military said in a statement that the alliance's warplanes carried out seven strikes near Hasakeh.

They struck four IS tactical units, destroying seven vehicles, three fighting positions, two armoured vehicles and a shipping container.

"In northern Syria, Daesh continues to cede military capacity, fighters and terrain," US Brigadier General Thomas Weidley said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

"The coalition remains committed to targeting Daesh across Iraq and Syria," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

AFP