Syria: US leads airstrikes against Islamic State-held oil sites for second day

Beirut: Warplanes from the US-led coalition bombed oil installations and other facilities in territory controlled by Islamic State militants in eastern Syria for a second consecutive day Friday, activists said. The strikes hit two oil areas in Deir el-Zour province a day after the United States and its Arab allies pummeled a dozen makeshift oil producing facilities in the same area near Syria’s border with Iraq. The raids aim to cripple one of the militants’ primary sources of cash — black market oil sales that the US says earn up to $2 million a day. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes overnight and early Friday hit the Tink oil field as well as the Qouriyeh oil-producing area in Deir el-Zour. It said air raids also targeted the headquarters of the Islamic State group in the town of Mayadeen. [caption id=“attachment_1731219” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image showing airstrike footage on the Jeribe West Refinery in Syria. AP Photo/ US Department of Defense[/caption] Another activist collective, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported four strikes on Mayadeen that it said were conducted by the coalition. The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said there were reports of casualties in the strikes, but did not have concrete figures. The US-led coalition, which began its aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria early Tuesday, aims to roll back and ultimately crush the extremist group that has created a proto-state spanning the Syria-Iraq border. Along the way, the militants have massacred captured Syrian and Iraqi troops, terrorized minorities in both countries and beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker. AP