US-Led Coalition Pounds ISIL Hideouts in Syria’s Raqqa

Friday, 2 January 2015

US-Led Coalition Pounds ISIL Hideouts in Syria’s Raqqa

Al-Manar

US-led coalition warplanes carried out more than a dozen air strikes overnight in and around the stronghold of the Takfiri group ISIl’s stronghold of Raqqa in northeastern Syria.

The air raids on the outskirts of Raqqa were the heaviest coalition strikes on the city along the Euphrates River since ISIL militants captured a Jordanian pilot after his F-16 jet went down near the city on Dec. 24. US-led air strikes in Syria

The Associated Press quoted anti-ISIL activist group called “Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered” as saying on Friday that at least 13 coalition strikes. It said the Furoussiyeh area and the Division 17 military base were among the targets hit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective also confirmed the air raids.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

On Tuesday, Islamic State militants in Syria have initiated a Twitter discussion on the best way to kill the Jordanian pilot, the Vocative website reported.

Jordan has threatened the Takfiri militants with "grave consequences" if the pilot, Mu'ath Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, 26, a first lieutenant in Jordan's air force is harmed.

ISIL has demanded that Jordan abandon the US-led coalition that is bombing its positions in Syria and Iraq, and release several prisoners in exchange for his release.