News Desk :
A UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said air strikes continued on Saturday in Syria, with IS targets in the central province of Homs hit for the first time.
Strikes were also reported in the town of Minbej, east of Aleppo, for the first time, as well as new strikes on the city of Raqqa, which serves as IS headquarters, the activist group said.
The targets were far away from positions held by Syrian government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the Observatory’s director told the AFP news agency.
The sound of warplanes circling overhead is nearly constant. And in the early hours of the morning people heard what they said were multiple air strikes against Islamic State positions.
The Kurdish forces are in the fight of their lives, with the jihadis now just a 10-minute drive from the town, and threatening to push further.
At the last Kurdish position outside Kobane last night bullets whined overhead and shells fell either side of the main road to the town.
The Kurds are grateful for the air strikes, but the battle for Kobane is far from over.
On Friday the UK became the latest nation to join the US-led coalition against IS, which controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq after rapid advances in the summer.
MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of air strikes in Iraq, but not in Syria.
About 40 countries, including several from the Middle East, have joined the US-led coalition against IS.
European countries have so far only agreed to strike targets in Iraq where the government has asked for help.
But US aircraft have also attacked IS targets in eastern Syria, including oil installations.
Several US Arab allies — Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — have “participated in or supported” the strikes.
Two British jets were flying over Iraq and were ready to hit targets on Saturday, their first mission since parliament authorised strikes against Islamic State militants, Britain’s ministry of defence said.
A Reuters witness at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus saw two Tornado jets leaving the facility at 0725 GMT, followed minutes later by a refuelling aircraft.
Six Tornado jets, normally based at RAF Marham in Britain, have been based on the east Mediterranean island since August. They have been engaged in intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance over Iraq for the past six weeks.
Saturday’s sortie was the first time British aircraft had been flying over Iraq in an armed role since Islamic State swept across large areas of northern Iraq in June.
