ISIS di Suriah Dihantam Serangan Udara Pimpinan AS
A Fresh Wave of Airstrikes hit ISIS-held Territory
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
Beirut (B2B) - Lima serangan udara menghantam daerah yang dikuasai ISIS di Suriah dekat perbatasan Irak, Rabu, kata kelompok pengamat perang Suriah.
Rami Abdulrahman, yang memimpin kelompok pemantau Observatorium Suriah untuk Hak Asasi Manusia (SOHR) mengemukakan serangan-serangan itu menghantam kota perbatasan Albu Kamal dan daerah-daerah sekitarnya.
Tidak jelas siapa yang melakukan serangan udara itu. Satu serangan udara oleh aliansi pimpinan Amerika Serikat di Suriah terhadap ISIS dilancarkan Selasa.
Seorang juru bicara militer AS mengatakan serangan-serangan itu adalah "hanya satu permulaan".
"Para warga di sana, para pegiat mengatakan mereka (serangan-serangan itu) mungkin dilakukan koalisi (internasional), bukan pemerintah," kata Abulrahman, mengacu pada pemerintah Suriah.
"Kekuatan ledakan jauh lebih besar, seperti kemarin," terang dia.
Daerah sekitar Albu Kamal di Suriah timur jadi pusat serangan bom yang kuat oleh pasukan pimpinan AS. SOHR mengatakan sekitar 22 serangan menghantam daerah itu Selasa.
Albu Kamal adalah satu dari pelintasan-pelintasan perbatasan antara Irak dan Suriah di sepanjang perbatasan yang kelompok ISIS kini berganti nama IS (Islamic State) ingin hapuskan telah merebut darah di kedua sisi perbatasan itu.
Kelompok itu menyita senjata-senjata di Irak dalam satu serangan kilat Juni yang dilakukan di lintasan perbatasan itu telah membantu kelompok itu untuk merebut lagi daerah di Suriah.
Beirut - Five air strikes hit Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria near the Iraqi border on Wednesday, a group that tracks the Syrian war said.
Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters the raids had hit the border town of Albu Kamal and surrounding areas.
It was not clear who had mounted the air raid. A U.S.-led alliance launched air strikes on Islamic State in Syria on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the U.S. military said those strikes were "only the beginning".
"The people there, the activists, say they (the strikes) are probably the (international) coalition, not the regime," Abdulrahman said, referring to the Syrian government. "The strength of the explosions are greater. Like yesterday."
The area around Albu Kamal in eastern Syria has been the focus of heavy bombing by U.S-led forces. The Observatory said around 22 strikes hit the area on Tuesday.
Albu Kamal is one of the main border crossings between Iraq and Syria along a frontier that Islamic State wants to erase after seizing territory both sides.
Weaponry seized by Islamic State in Iraq during a lighting offence in June and taken across the border has helped the group secure more land in Syria.
