France strikes Islamic State in Iraq after U.S.-led Syria raids

French fighter jets struck targets in Iraq on Thursday and the United States and its allies stepped up air raids in Syria against Islamic State militants who have taken over large areas of both countries.

France's strikes were its first since Sept. 19 when Paris joined the United States military action against Islamic State in Iraq and followed the beheading of a French tourist, reported late on Wednesday, in Algeria in retaliation.

Overnight, U.S.-led air strikes in eastern Syria killed 14 Islamic State fighters, according to a monitoring group, while on the ground, Kurdish forces were reported to have pushed back an advance by the Islamists towards the border town of Kobani.

A third night of air raids by the United States and its allies targeted Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in three remote locations in eastern Syria to try to cut off a major source of revenue for the al Qaeda offshoot, U.S. officials said.

The strikes also seem to be intended to hamper Islamic State's ability to operate across the Syria-Iraq frontier, an area where it has declared an Islamic caliphate.

The air raids follow growing alarm in Western and Arab capitals at Islamic State's rapid military gains in Iraq and Syria and the beheadings of U.S. and British hostages posted on the internet.

U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to keep up military pressure against the group, which advanced through Kurdish areas of northern Iraq this week despite the air strikes.

Some 140,000 refugees have fled to Turkey, many telling of villages burnt and captives beheaded.

"The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force, so the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death," Obama said at the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted Britain to join the strikes against Islamic State in Iraq after the Baghdad government requested London's help. He recalled parliament to secure its approval for military action on Friday.

FRENCH RAID

A government spokesman gave no details of the French raids on Iraq, and France has so far ruled out joining raids on Islamic State in Syria.

But Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian opened the door to possibly joining strikes in Syria, hours after a French tourist was beheaded by an Algerian Islamist group citing Paris' military action against Islamic State in Iraq.

The death of French tourist Herve Gourdel, who was beheaded in Algeria 24 hours after an ultimatum was given to France to halt attacks in Iraq, appeared on toughen Paris' resolve.

"The opportunity is not there today. We already have an important task in Iraq and we will see in the coming days how the situation evolves," Le Drian told RTL radio.

Pressed on whether it was a possibility in the future, Le Drian, who is taking part in a war cabinet meeting on Thursday, said: "The question is on the table".

The U.S. military said that it, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, used fighter jets and drones to attack 12 Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in eastern Syria, which generate up to $2 million a day for the militants.

Initial indication were that the raids on the refineries were successful, the U.S. military said. Another raid destroyed an Islamic State vehicle.

AIR STRIKES

In addition to the 14 Islamic State fighters, the strikes also killed at least five civilians, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Washington and its Arab allies killed scores of Islamic State fighters in the opening 24 hours of air strikes, the first direct U.S. foray into Syria two weeks after Obama pledged to hit the group on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.

On Thursday, two Kurdish officials said Kurdish forces had pushed back an advance by Islamic State fighters towards Kobani in overnight clashes.

Islamic State launched a fresh offensive to try to capture Kobani more than a week ago, concentrating its fighters south of the town for a push late on Wednesday, but Kurdish YPG forces repelled them.

"The YPG responded and pushed them back to about 10-15 km (6-9 miles) away," Idris Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in the Kobani canton, told Reuters by telephone.

Ocalan Iso, a Kurdish defense official, confirmed that YPG forces had stemmed Islamic State's advances south of Kobani, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic.

"As our fighters secured the area, we found 12 Islamic State bodies," he said by telephone. Islamic State fighters also remain to the east and west of the town and fighting continues in the south.

Near Damascus, the Syrian army overran rebels in a town on Thursday, strengthening President Bashar al-Assad's grip on territory around the capital.

The town - Adra al-Omalia - is around 30 km (20 miles) from central Damascus but far from parts of Syria where the United States has launched air strikes against Islamic State militants.

Assad's forces, backed by the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, have been gradually extending control over a corridor of territory from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.

Many Syrian activists and rebels have criticized the United States for focusing on striking Islamic State and other militant groups while doing little to bring down Assad.