Syrian Warplanes Pound ISIS in Raqqa, Killing 31 Fighters

26 Strikes Hit ISIS Bases Across Their Capital City

The United States isn’t the only country engaged in airstrikes against ISIS territory. While the US launches attacks against targets in ISIS’ eastern holdings in Iraq, Syrian warplanes today hammered the ISIS caliphate’s capital city of Raqqa.

According to rebel mouthpiece the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian warplanes hit 26 different ISIS targets across Raqqa and neighboring Tabqa, including a military court and several bases of operations. 31 ISIS fighters were reported killed.

Raqqa locals have reported increased numbers of airstrikes over the course of the past week, and that they picked up dramatically Sunday. They complained, however, that many of the strikes hit civilian targets.

It is noteworthy, then, that while the US had been among the first to complain about Syrian strikes against residential areas in ISIS territory before, they have decided to remain silent today. That likely reflects the ongoing US airstrikes in and around the major Iraqi city of Mosul, also an ISIS possession, and the inevitability of the US strikes hitting civilian targets as well.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.