Airstrikes Hit ISIS Stronghold in Syria
Coalition airstrikes hit ISIS on Saturday, pounding its capital of Raqqa in northern Syria on Saturday evening.
The US-led airstrikes, which began late Saturday night and continued into the early hours of Sunday, have killed at least 10 ISIS militants according to the Guardian. The latest operation has been described as the largest of its kind in war-ravaged Syria.
More than a dozen airstrikes hit ISIS locations in an effort to prevent it from moving “military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gilleran said. The militant group controls areas on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border.
“This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria,” Lt. Col. Gilleran stated.
A YouTube channel called US Military Videos and Photos posted two videos of the moments airstrikes hit ISIS positions.
According to the Associated Press, websites affiliated with the militant group claim that civilians were also killed as the airstrikes hit ISIS. The websites also claimed that at least three children were treated for wounds. A video showing wounded men and children being treated at a medical facility was posted on the websites.
The Associated Press mentioned that ISIS’s claims “could not be independently confirmed.”
However, the group not only seems to be relatively unaffected by the bombardment, but has actually made advances a day after airstrikes hit ISIS positions in and around Raqqa.
Despite the airstrikes, ISIS launched a number of coordinated assaults on neighboring towns and regions on Monday.
Reuters reported that ISIS attacked the neighboring town of Ain Issa, which Kurdish forces had just captured from the group two weeks ago as supporting US airstrikes hit ISIS forces. The town is located about 30 miles north of Raqqa.
Another group of ISIS forces launched another assault on Kurdish positions in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasaka.
Reuters mentioned that bridges along the waterways near Raqa were destroyed when the airstrikes hit ISIS. The loss of the bridges seems to have failed to halt ISIS movements around the city.
The Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper says at least a dozen other airstrikes hit ISIS positions in other locations in Iraq and Syria on Saturday.
Either the militant group’s ability to move its “military capabilities throughout Syria” were unaffected when US-led airstrikes hit ISIS, or it had other systems in place that allowed it to overcome its losses.
How effective are airstrikes against ISIS proving to be? Given the group’s quick rebound after the bombardment, will coalition airstrikes hit ISIS again in the near future, or will they rely solely on Kurdish forces to defeat the group?
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
