BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's air strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria on Thursday were carried out in coordination with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, an Iraqi military spokesman told Reuters.

The Iraqi air force used F16 jets to cross into Syria and carry out the strikes, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool said.

 

 (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; editing by Raya Jalabi) </s> BAGHDAD: Iraqi warplanes have struck Islamic State targets inside Syria in retaliation for recent bomb attacks in Baghdad by the group, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Friday.

It appeared to be the first time Iraqi jets have conducted such raids across the border. A Syrian source said the strikes had been coordinated with Damascus.

Islamic State, which is now on the defensive after losing control of eastern Mosul in Iraq to a U.S.-backed Iraqi military offensive, has claimed responsibility for several car bombs in Baghdad in the capital in the past few weeks.

"We are determined to chase terrorism that tries to kill our sons and citizens, wherever it is found, so we gave orders to the air force command to strike Islamic State positions in (the Iraqi town of) Hosaiba and Albu Kamal inside Syrian territory as they were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad," Abadi said in a statement.

"The heroes of the sky executed the operation and responded to the terrorists with amazing success."

A military statement said the strikes had taken place on Friday morning using F16 fighter jets and had destroyed Islamic State headquarters in Albu Kamal.

"The strikes targeted Islamic State's headquarters used for making car bombs in Albu Kamal... after Iraqi intelligence received tips from their sources inside Syria," a senior security official told Reuters.

A source close to Syria's foreign ministry said the operation had been carried out in "complete coordination" with the Damascus government.

The United States said it had also helped the Iraqis by providing intelligence.

"Yes we were aware, yes we supported it as well with information," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. "It is a good strike, it is a valid strike, it was a strike against ISIS targets," he said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

The jihadist group has separately come under attack in Syria by warplanes from Russia, Turkey and a U.S.-led coalition, all of which are supporting different offensives against it in the country. </s> Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi said on Friday he had ordered the Iraqi air force to strike Islamic State positions inside Syria in retaliation for recent bomb attacks in Baghdad.

A source close to Syria's foreign ministry said the Iraqi air raid had been carried out in coordination with the Syrian government.

Islamic State, which is on the defensive after losing control of eastern Mosul to a US-backed Iraqi military offensive, has claimed responsibility for several car bombs in Baghdad in the past few weeks.

"We are determined to chase terrorism that tries to kill our sons and citizens wherever it is found, so we gave orders to the air force command to strike Islamic State positions in (Iraqi town) Hosaiba and Albu Kamal inside Syrian territory as they were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad," Abbadi said in a statement.

"The heroes of the sky executed the operation and responded to the terrorists with amazing success."

The source close to the Syrian foreign ministry said there had been "complete coordination" with the Damascus government, but did not elaborate.

A separate statement by the Joint Operations Command said that the strikes had taken place on Friday morning using F16 fighter jets and had destroyed Islamic State headquarters in Albu Kamal.

"The strikes targeted Islamic State's headquarters used for making car bombs in Albu Kamal... after Iraqi intelligence received tips from their sources inside Syria," a senior security official told Reuters.

US-backed Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from most of the cities it captured in 2014 and 2015. The militants also control parts of Syria.

Iraqi government forces last month captured eastern Mosul and have now launched an offensive on the western side. The city is divided in two halves by the Tigris river. </s> The Iraqi air force on Thursday carried out a “deadly raid” against positions of the Islamic State group in neighbouring Syria, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said.

Abadi ordered the strike against the jihadists “because of the danger they pose to Iraqi territory,” a statement said.

A video released by the air force showed two F-16 fighter jets in action.

“These raids demonstrate the growing capacity of our armed forces to hunt down and liquidate terrorists,” it added.

Iraq declared victory in December against IS, which launched a sweeping offensive in 2014 and at one point controlled a third of the country.

The jihadists still control pockets of desert along the border with Syria, where Iraq had already carried out limited raids against IS before Thursday’s strike. </s> BAGHDAD - The Iraqi air force struck members of the Islamic State group inside neighbouring Syria Friday, officials said, adding that the targeted militants were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad.

The strike was announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in a statement and is believed to be the first of its kind by Iraqi jets on Syrian territory.

"We ordered the air force command to strike Daesh terrorist sites in Husseibeh and Albu Kamal, in Syrian territory," the premier said, using an Arabic acronym for the militant organisation. "We are determined to track down terrorists trying to kill our sons and citizens wherever they are," he said. Both locations cited by Abadi are very close to the border and lie in the Euphrates Valley, facing the remote western Iraqi town of Al-Qaim.

Husseibeh is a town in Iraq but an area that lies on the Syrian side of the border bares the same name.

Militants have lost most of their urban bastions in the vast western province of Anbar since Iraqi forces mounted a counter-offensive following the capture by IS of around a third of the country in 2014.

The Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS in Iraq released its own statement stating that the strike took place on Friday and containing some video footage. "Baghdad witnessed terrorist attacks using car bombs in Bayaa and Habibiyah," the statement said, referring to bombings that killed dozens last week in the Iraqi capital. The February 16 car bomb blast in Bayaa killed at least 52 people and was the deadliest such attack in Baghdad since a suicide truck bomb explosion in the Karrada neighbourhood set teeming shopping arcades ablaze and killed more than 320.

"After a few days of investigation, (the security forces) reached them and found their location," the JOC said.

"This morning, the heroes of the air force attacked enemy targets with F-16s inside Syria, in the Husseibeh and Albu Kamal areas," it said. "Their hideouts were completely destroyed."

But they continue to move relatively easily in desert areas and have hideouts from which they harass the security forces.

A security official speaking on condition of anonymity said it was the first time Iraqi aircraft had hunted IS targets across the border in Syria. </s> BAGHDAD - Iraq's airforce carried out "deadly" airstrikes on Islamic State positions inside neighboring Syria on Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said.



The airstrikes were launched "from the Iraqi side of the border," it said in a statement. </s> BAGHDAD, April 19 (Reuters) - Iraq’s airforce carried out “deadly” airstrikes on Islamic State positions inside neighbouring Syria on Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said.

The airstrikes were launched “from the Iraqi side of the border”, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein and Gareth Jones) </s> The Iraqi prime minister said he had directed the military to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) targets in Syrian territory. The strikes come in response to recent bombings in Baghdad, he added.

"We are determined to chase terrorism that tries to kill our sons and citizens wherever it is found, so we gave orders to the air force command to strike Islamic State positions in Hosaiba and Albu Kamal inside Syrian territory as they were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad," Haider al-Abbadi said in a statement.

"The heroes of the sky executed the operation and responded to the terrorists with amazing success."

IS claimed responsibility for a deadly attack that took place on February 16 in southern Baghdad, when a car bomb blast ripped through the area, killing at least 45 and injuring dozens.

Albu Kamal was targeted by the US-led coalition earlier this week. On Thursday, three strikes engaged an IS unit and also destroyed four oil refinement stills and a vehicle.

Later in the day, an Iraqi military commander has confirmed the airstrikes "were successful," adding that they involved F-16 fighter jets, AP reported.

A seniour security official told Reuters "the strikes targeted Islamic State's headquarters used for making car bombs in Albu Kamal... after Iraqi intelligence received tips from their sources inside Syria."

READ MORE: Suicide blast kills at least 60 near Al-Bab, Syria – reports

Meanwhile, the Iraqi airstrikes were conducted "in complete coordination" with the Syrian government, a source close to Syria's foreign ministry told the news agency. The source chose not to elaborate on the issue.

Later, another foreign ministry source confirmed coordination of the airstrikes to the Syrian government's newspaper Al Watan.

Later in the day, Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen reported that the Iraqi airstrikes demonstrated “high-level cooperation between two countries' intelligence agencies.” The report said the Friday air raids were ordered after a convoy carrying IS commanders was spotted in the area, adding that coordinated strikes are very likely to happen in the future.

Bassam Abu Abdallah, professor of political studies in Damascus University, told RT that closer coordination between Iraq and Syria in the fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) would be essential for defeating the jihadist group in the long run.

“If we do not have this kind of coordination, I think, that after Mosul the ISIS fighters will come to Syria and we see that the Iraqi forces try to close the borders between Syria and Iraq.”

Abdallah added that similarly motivated cooperation between the United States and Russia is needed to defeat IS, but so far it was “not clear what is the plan in the minds of the Trump administration.” </s> Iraq's air force has struck Islamic State targets inside Syria for the first time as Iraqi troops on the ground pushed into western Mosul.

Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced the air strikes, saying the air force hit the towns of Boukamal and Husseibah across the border. He said they came in response to recent bombings in Baghdad claimed by IS and linked to the militants' operations in Syria.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces pushed into the first neighbourhood of western Mosul and took full control of Mosul's international airport and a sprawling military base on the south-western edge of the city, according to Iraqi officials.

The city is the last major urban stronghold held by the Sunni militant group in Iraq.

The territorial gains mark the first key moves in the battle, now in its sixth day, to rout IS militants from the western half of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

The push into Mamun neighbourhood was followed by intense clashes with IS militants, according to an Iraqi special forces officer on the ground.

An Associated Press team near the front line saw at least four wounded special forces members and the bodies of three soldiers, suggesting more intense fighting than the previous day.

Earlier on Friday, the spokesman of the Joint Military Operation Command, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, said Iraqi forces had also retaken the military base adjacent to the airport.

An Iraqi air force commander said the air strikes against IS Syria were carried out with F-16 warplanes at dawn and "were successful".

The commander said they were conducted at the order of the prime minister.

The advances come a day after special forces joined the fight for western Mosul.

Both the Ghazlani military base and the airport will be key to the next steps in the daunting battle and will serve as a base of operations as Iraqi forces launch subsequent pushes into western Mosul, which is divided by the Tigris River into two halves.

Iraqi authorities declared the city's eastern half "fully liberated" from the Sunni militants in January, three months after launching the operation to take back Mosul.

On Thursday, Iraqi special forces joined federal police and rapid response units in the push while the Popular Mobilisation Forces - an umbrella group of government-sanctioned Shiite militias - secured the main roads west of Mosul, largely cutting the city off from IS-held territory in Syria.

The United Nations has estimated that about 750,000 civilians are trapped in western Mosul. The initial numbers of displaced from western Mosul have been low, but Iraqi forces are yet to punch into the city's dense urban neighbourhoods.

The battle for western Mosul is expected to be the most trying yet. The western half of the city is denser with older neighbourhoods and narrower streets that will likely complicate the already difficult urban combat ahead.
The Iraqi Air Force strikes ISIL targets inside Syria for the first time in response to recent bombings in Baghdad.