U.S.-led coalition unleashes airstrikes on IS stronghold

BEIRUT — U. S.-led coalition aircraft unleashed a wave of airstrikes targeting the Islamic State g roup’s st rong hold of Raqqa in eastern Syria in what the coalition said Sunday was one of its most sustained aeria l operations carried out in Syria to date.

The Islamic State group said at least 10 people were killed and many others wounded in the attacks, which activists said triggered successive explosions that shook the city and created panic among residents. The U. S.-led coa lition often targets Islamic State-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were rare in their intensity.

In a statement, the coalition said it carried out 18 airstrikes throughout Raqqa province, destroying a number of Islamic State vehicles and 16 bridges. An earlier statement said the attacks also destroyed vital Islamic Statecontrolled structures and transit routes in Syria.

“The signif ica nt airstrikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” said coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Gilleran, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

“This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria, and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh’s ability to move” from Raqqa, he said.

Raqqa is the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic caliphate declared a year ago by the Islamic State group in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. The sustained airstrikes add pressure on the militants in Raqqa, still reeling from last month’s loss of the border town of Tal Abyad to Kurdish fighters. The town on the Turkish border was a major avenue for commerce and smuggling for the group.

A militant website said 10 people were killed and dozens of others wounded. An Islamic State-affiliated Facebook page said one civilian was among those killed and 10 were wounded including women and children. It also said the bombing destroyed several bridges.

A Raqqa-based antiIslamic St ate act iv i st network reported eight civilians were killed by the coalition airstrikes, including a 10 -year-old child.