21 IS Fighters Killed In U.S.-Led Airstrikes In Syria

More than Islamic State (IS) militants were killed by U.S.-led airstrikes against the group's positions in the predominantly Kurdish city of Ayn al-Arab on the Syrian-Turkish borders, a monitoring group said Friday.

An IS commander and a Danish IS fighter were among those killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition has recently focused its strikes against the IS positions in Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobane, to keep the group from capturing that strategic city on the Syrian-Turkish borders.

The Turkish government has also allowed Iraqi Peshmerga forces and Turkey-loyal Syrian rebels to cross into Ayn al-Arab, Syria's largest Kurdish city, via Turkey to join the fight against the IS there.

The Syrian government lashed out at Turkey, accusing it of flagrantly violating the Syrian sovereignty by allowing foreign fighters and "terrorists" to cross the borders.

Meanwhile, the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on ground, said IS fighters in the northern province of al-Raqqa executed as many as 20 Syrian military personnel, most of whom were officers.

It added that the IS had previously captured those officers when its fighters stormed and captured a key military base earlier this year in al-Raqqa, which now has fully fallen under the IS control.

The IS, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, has self-proclaimed an Islamic Caliphate in areas striding Syria and Iraq. It has also succeeded in capturing almost of the oil fields in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria on the borders with Iraq. (Cihan/Xinhua)