US-led strikes hit Islamic State group oil sites for 2nd day
Two oil producing areas controled by ISIS hit by US, Arab allies, with UK parliment set to vote to join air strikes.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the strikes in Deir el-Zour province overnight and early Friday are believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition against the extremist group.
US-led forces started bombing Islamic State militants in northern and eastern Syria on Tuesday. The United States has been bombing bases of the al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq since last month.
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The Observatory says the strikes hit at least two oil producing areas in Deir el-Zour province overnight. It says air raids also targeted the headquarters of the Islamic State group in the town of Mayadeen early Friday.
Deir al-Zour, which borders Iraq, is almost entirely controlled by Islamic State militants and was a major oil-producing province before Syria's conflict began more than three years ago.
Another activist collective, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported four strikes on Mayadeen that it says were conducted by the coalition.
Oil has been a top source of revenue for Islamic State militants, and air raids on Thursday targeted refineries controlled by the group. The strikes also have seemed to be intended to hamper Islamic State's ability to operate across the border with Iraq, where it also control territory.
The Observatory said there were casualties from the earlier strikes but did not give details.
Islamic State fighters edged towards a strategic town on northern Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, battling Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.
Islamic State launched an offensive to try to capture the border town of Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides. More than 140,000 Kurds have fled the town and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey.
The Sunni insurgents appeared to have taken control of a hill from where fighters from the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, had been attacking them in recent days, 10 km (6 miles) west of Kobani, a Reuters correspondent said.
Booms of artillery and bursts of machinegun fire echoed across the border, and at least two shells hit a vineyard on the Turkish side. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Turkey and paramilitary police arrived to inspect the site.
"We're afraid. We're taking the car and leaving today," said vineyard owner Huseyin Turkmen, 60, as small arms fire rang out in the Syrian hills just to the south.
Kurdish forces said on Thursday they had pushed back the advance on Kobani by Islamic State fighters but appealed for U.S.-led air strikes to target the insurgents' tanks and heavy armaments.
Kobani's strategic location has been blocking the Sunni Muslim insurgents from consolidating their gains in northern Syria. The group tried to take the town in July but was repulsed by local forces backed by Kurdish fighters from Turkey.
Kurdish front
Islamic State fighters edged towards a strategic town on northern Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, battling Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.
Islamic State launched an offensive to try to capture the border town of Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides. More than 140,000 Kurds have fled the town and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey.
The Sunni insurgents appeared to have taken control of a hill from where fighters from the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, had been attacking them in recent days, 10 km (6 miles) west of Kobani, a Reuters correspondent said.
Booms of artillery and bursts of machinegun fire echoed across the border, and at least two shells hit a vineyard on the Turkish side. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Turkey and paramilitary police arrived to inspect the site.
"We're afraid. We're taking the car and leaving today," said vineyard owner Huseyin Turkmen, 60, as small arms fire rang out in the Syrian hills just to the south.
Kurdish forces said on Thursday they had pushed back the advance on Kobani by Islamic State fighters but appealed for US-led air strikes to target the insurgents' tanks and heavy armaments.
Kobani's strategic location has been blocking the Sunni Muslim insurgents from consolidating their gains in northern Syria. The group tried to take the town in July but was repulsed by local forces backed by Kurdish fighters from Turkey.
UK to join strikes
British Prime Minister David Cameron urged parliament on Friday to vote to approve "years" of air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, saying the group was guilty of "staggering" brutality and posed a direct threat to Britain.
Cameron recalled parliament from recess for a special session after securing cross-party support for strikes against IS and his government is expected to comfortably win the vote, which is expected at around 1600 GMT.
"Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes," Cameron told parliament, saying he thought action would need to last "years" to be effective.
"This is not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member, with a declared and proven intention to attack our country and our people."
Cameron is expected to win approval from parliament to join US-led air strikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq. A coalition including the United States and Middle Eastern allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has already started bombing Islamic State targets both in Iraq and Syria. France has also taken part in the strikes on the insurgents in Iraq, although so far not in Syria.
Until now, Cameron has held back from joining the action after suffering a humiliating defeat last year when lawmakers rejected British air strikes against Syrian government forces. The vote also undermined US President Barack Obama's efforts to win support for air attacks on Damascus forces, which he subsequently called off at the last minute.
By contrast, parties from across the political spectrum have signaled they will back Cameron's position in Friday's vote. Approval would take Britain into its first military action since a 2011 aerial campaign against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Libya.
Britons are wary of another war after long, unpopular campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the beheading of two US journalists and a British aid worker by a militant with a British accent has rallied political support for tackling Islamic State.
Britain says around 500 of its citizens have travelled to fight in Syria and northern Iraq, raising fears that radicalized fighters could return to stage attacks on home soil - something Cameron has described as the biggest threat to national security.
Amid wider legal and technical concerns, the government will not seek approval to take its fight against Islamic State across the border into Syria, where the group has also established a stronghold. Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands are also set to join the air strikes in Iraq.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
