US-led coalition continues targeting IS oil facilities

Beirut, Sep 26 (IANS/EFE) US-led aircraft have once again pounded oil production facilities under the control of the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group in northeastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Friday.

According to SOHR, which monitors the military situation in Syria, the raids were carried out Thursday in Deir al-Zur province.

Targeted were the al-Tank oilfield in the eastern suburbs of Deir al-Zur city and other oilfields in the area of al-Quria, SOHR said.

IS bases and checkpoints were also attacked by the international aviation coalition on the outskirts of al-Mayadin city, controlled by the radical organisation and where training camps for foreign fighters are believed to be located.

The US began early this week launching airstrikes against IS-held positions in Syria in which warplanes from other nations joined in.

Oil sales are a major income source for the IS along with extortion and the sale of looted antiquities.

In June, the jihadis proclaimed an Islamic caliphate in the territories they control in Syria and Iraq.

--IANS/EFE

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