Iraqi air strike targets meeting of ISIS commanders at base in Syria

The Iraqi Air Force launched a new strike on ISIS in Syria, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi’s office said yesterday.

The attack was aimed at a base used by the group’s commanders south of the town of Deshaisha, the office said.

Iraq since last year has carried out several strikes against the militant group in Syria, with the approval of the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al Assad and the US-led coalition fighting ISIS.

Mr Al Abadi last month said he would “take all necessary measures if they threaten the security of Iraq”, referring to the militants who just three years ago overran a third of the country.

He declared final victory over the extremist group in December but ISIS still poses a threat from pockets of its fighters along the border with Syria, and the group has continued to carry out ambushes, assassinations and bombings across Iraq.

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

Mr Al Abadi ordered the “painful strike” that targeted “a meeting of ISIS commanders south of Al Deshaisha in Syrian territory”, his office said.

F-16 fighter jets were used in the early-morning attack and the raid was successful, said Gen Yehya Rassoul, spokesman of Iraq’s media security centre.

Deshaisha is in Syria’s Hassakeh province, where a US-backed Kurdish-led alliance is fighting the extremists.

On April 19, Iraq said it carried out an air raid against ISIS in Syria in which 36 ISIS fighters were killed, near the town of Hajin in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.