ALEPPO, Syria
At least twelve civilians and several ISIL militants were killed during airstrikes on Wednesday by U.S.-led international coalition forces in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa, according to the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) of Syria.
A statement from LCC of Syria confirmed the fatalities in Raqqa's Tal Abyad district, an area under ISIL control on the country's border with Turkey.
Fighter jets from the U.S. and Arab allies, namely Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have been pounding ISIL targets in Syria since late Monday as part of a U.S. strategy to combat the militants.
U.S. Central Command announced that the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hit a dozen ISIL-controlled oil refineries in remote areas of eastern Syria near Al Mayadin, Al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal during Wednesday's attacks.
ISIL-controlled 93rd Division in Raqqa's rural town of Ayn was also hit, according to the LCC statement.
Karakozak village in northeast Aleppo was also shelled by coalition forces.
Riad al-Asaad, a founding commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), criticized the U.S.-led airstrikes for putting civilian lives at risk, saying that the attacks are only against ISIL in Syria and not Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"Any plan which does not aim to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime cannot be successful, as the regime is the head and base of terrorism," the commander told the Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
www.aa.com.tr/en
