U.S. strikes target IS fighters at key gas facility in Syria

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition targeted a position of the Islamic State (IS) militant group at a key gas production facility in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Sunday night, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory said the U.S. strikes hit the entrance of the Konico factory, which is the biggest gas production facility in Syria that has recently been under the terrorist group’s control.

The factory, located in the town of Khasham in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, feeds the Jandar electricity generating station in the central province of Homs, which in turn feeds other electricity stations across the war-torn country, the Observatory said.

The UK-based watchdog group, which relies on a network of activists on ground, said the IS had turned parts of the gas facility into a detention center, adding that Sunday’s strike injured a number of IS militants.

The IS, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the levant, has captured the majority of oil and gas filed in eastern Syria. The United States has recently targeted IS positions in several Syrian cities as part of Washington’s fresh war on terror.

Last Tuesday, the U.S. military and its Arab allies debuted airstrikes against IS positions in Syria’s northern province of al- Raqqa and the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. Activists said tens of radical rebels have been killed since the first day of airstrikes, including leaders of the radical militant groups.

Syria responded to the U.S.-led attack by announcing that it was informed ahead of the attacks, adding that the administration of President Bashar al-Assad stood by any international effort to eradicate the “terrorist groups” from the country.