Iraq air force strikes ISIL targets in Syria

Mourners carry the coffins of victims of a car bomb in Baghdad's Bayaa neighbourhood the previous day during the funeral procession in the Shiite city of Najaf on February 17, 2017. Haidar Hamdani / AShow more

BAGHDAD // The Iraqi air force struck ISIL members inside neighbouring Syria on Friday, officials said, adding that the targeted militants were responsible for recent bombings in Baghdad.

The strike was announced by prime minister Haider Al Abadi in a statement and is believed to be the first of its kind by Iraqi jets on Syrian territory.

“We ordered the air force command to strike Daesh terrorist sites in Husseibeh and Albu Kamal, in Syrian territory,” Mr Al Abadi said. “We are determined to track down terrorists trying to kill our sons and citizens wherever they are.”

A source close to the Syrian foreign ministry said the Iraqi strike had been coordinated with the government in Damascus, according to leading newspaper Al Watan, which is close to the regime.

Husseibeh and Albu Kamal are very close to the border Iraqi-Syrian border and lie in the Euphrates Valley, facing the remote western Iraqi town of Al Qaim.

Husseibeh is a town in Iraq but an area that lies on the Syrian side of the border bears the same name.

ISIL has lost most of its urban bastions in the vast western province of Anbar since Iraqi forces mounted a counter-offensive following the capture by the extremists of around a third of the country in 2014.

The Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against ISIL in Iraq released its own statement stating that the strike took place on Friday. It also released video footage.

“Baghdad witnessed terrorist attacks using car bombs in Bayaa and Habibiyah,” the statement said, referring to bombings that killed dozens last week in the Iraqi capital.

“After a few days of investigation, [the security forces] reached them (those responsible for the attack) and found their location,” the JOC said.

“This morning, the heroes of the air force attacked enemy targets with F-16s inside Syria, in the Husseibeh and Albu Kamal areas,” it added. “Their hideouts were completely destroyed.”

The February 16 car bomb blast in Bayaa killed at least 52 people and was the deadliest such attack in Baghdad since a suicide lorry bomb explosion in the Karrada neighbourhood set teeming shopping arcades ablaze and killed more than 320.

A security official said the strike was the first time Iraqi aircraft had hunted ISIL targets across the border in Syria.

* Agence France-Presse