Iraqi warplanes attacked an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria on Thursday, Baghdad’s military said, in a rare air assault across the border. Iraqi F-16 jets targeted the militants near the city of Hajin in coordination with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iraqi military spokesman said. Both governments have been fighting the hardline group, which declared a caliphate on both their territories in 2014 before it was forced back by an international offensive.

“Carrying out air strikes on Daesh gangs in Syrian territories is because of the dangers posed by said gangs to Iraqi territories and is proof of the improved capabilities of our armed forces,” the Iraqi military said in a statement. Daesh in an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The U.S.-led coalition also fighting Islamic State said it gave the Iraqi mission intelligence support. Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his country would “take all necessary measures if they threaten the security of Iraq,” referring to the jihadist militants who just three years ago overran a third of Iraq.

The prime minister declared final victory over the ultra hardline group in December but it still poses a threat from pockets along the border with Syria and has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings across Iraq. Iraq currently has good relations with Iran and Russia, Assad’s main backers in the seven-year-old Syrian civil war, while also enjoying strong support from the U.S.-led coalition. Last year, Iraqi warplanes carried out at least one strike on Islamic State targets inside Syria, also in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition and with the approval of the Syrian government. </s> BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi warplanes attacked an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria on Thursday, Baghdad’s military said, in a rare air assault across the border.

Iraqi F-16 jets targeted the militants near the city of Hajin in coordination with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

Both governments have been fighting the hardline group, which declared a caliphate on both their territories in 2014 before it was forced back by an international offensive.

“Carrying out air strikes on Daesh gangs in Syrian territories is because of the dangers posed by said gangs to Iraqi territories and is proof of the improved capabilities of our armed forces,” the Iraqi military said in a statement.

Daesh in an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

The U.S.-led coalition also fighting Islamic State said it gave the Iraqi mission intelligence support.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his country would “take all necessary measures if they threaten the security of Iraq,” referring to the jihadist militants who just three years ago overran a third of Iraq.

The prime minister declared final victory over the ultra hardline group in December but it still poses a threat from pockets along the border with Syria and has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings across Iraq.

Iraq currently has good relations with Iran and Russia, Assad’s main backers in the seven-year-old Syrian civil war, while also enjoying strong support from the U.S.-led coalition.

Last year, Iraqi warplanes carried out at least one strike on Islamic State targets inside Syria, also in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition and with the approval of the Syrian government. </s> BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi warplanes attacked an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria on Thursday, Baghdad's military said, in a rare air assault across the border.

 Iraqi F-16 jets targeted the militants near the city of Hajin in coordination with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

 Both governments have been fighting the hardline group, which declared a caliphate on both their territories in 2014 before it was forced back by an international offensive.

 "Carrying out air strikes on Daesh gangs in Syrian territories is because of the dangers posed by said gangs to Iraqi territories and is proof of the improved capabilities of our armed forces," the Iraqi military said in a statement.

 Daesh in an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

 The U.S.-led coalition also fighting Islamic State said it gave the Iraqi mission intelligence support.

 Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his country would "take all necessary measures if they threaten the security of Iraq," referring to the jihadist militants who just three years ago overran a third of Iraq.

 The prime minister declared final victory over the ultra hardline group in December but it still poses a threat from pockets along the border with Syria and has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings across Iraq.

 Iraq currently has good relations with Iran and Russia, Assad's main backers in the seven-year-old Syrian civil war, while also enjoying strong support from the U.S.-led coalition.

 Last year, Iraqi warplanes carried out at least one strike on Islamic State targets inside Syria, also in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition and with the approval of the Syrian government.

 

 (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Heavens) </s> 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> Iraqi warplanes pounded Islamic State positions in eastern Syria with deadly airstrikes Thursday, the Iraqi government said.

The Iraqi army and Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) stationed in the bordering province of Anbar have fired rockets at IS pockets in Syria in the past, but the airstrikes were the first by Iraq in its neighboring country.

"Conducting airstrikes against IS gangs in the Syrian territory is due to the threat of these gangs to Iraqi soil, and demonstrates the increased capabilities of our courageous armed forces in the pursuit and elimination of terrorism," a statement from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office read.

The statement said Iraqi F-16 planes conducted the airstrikes based on orders from Abadi and in coordination with the Syrian government.

The Iraqi defense ministry said the strikes targeted IS gatherings in the town of Hajin, south of Deir el-Zour along the Euphrates River in Syria. Raw video footage and images published by the ministry showed Iraqi jets darting through the sky and, in a separate video, dropping a bomb on a building.

The ministry said the operation was planned and carried out by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, based on intelligence provided by the U.S.-led coalition.

A statement from the coalition said the airstrikes demonstrated Iraq's commitment to destroying remnants of the Islamic State terror group in the region.

"This operation highlights the capabilities of Iraq's armed forces to aggressively pursue Daesh [IS] and to maintain their country's internal security," said U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Robert B. Sofge, deputy commanding general of the coalition's operations.

IS has lost most of its territory in Syria and was declared defeated in Iraq last December. But its remnants are taking refuge across the vast border region between Iraq and Syria and carry out periodic terror attacks. </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.
Iraqi Air Force F-16 jets attack an Islamic State explosives factory and other positions inside Syria near the city of Hajin in coordination with the Syrian Armed Forces.