U.S. and Allies Lead 17 New Airstrikes Against Islamic State

The United States and its allies have led 17 airstrikes against the Islamic State since Monday, the U.S. Central Command reports.

The recent airstrikes focused on the embattled border town of Kobani in Syria, as well as the towns of Mosul and Kirkuk in Iraq. According to the U.S. Central Command, the airstrikes performed this week successfully took out multiple Islamic State fighting positions, buildings, vehicles and staging areas.

Along with airstrikes led by the U.S., Syrian forces also successfully attacked an Islamic State stronghold in Raqqa. The human rights watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights raised the death toll in Raqqa to 95 after Syrian government forces attacked the city in search of Islamic State militants.

The observatory stated that of the 95 recent casualties, 52 are said to be civilians who were visiting a local market, museum and industrial neighborhood at the time of the Syrian airstrike.

Those living near Raqqa described the recent bombing as surprising and "indiscriminate."

"The bombing today was a surprise. It was indiscriminate," Hammoud al-Moussa, a Raqqa native who now lives in Turkey, told the Wall Street Journal. "It's as though the regime wanted to say to its constituency and support base: We're still here, and Raqqa is still within the reach of our firepower."

Moussa added to the media outlet that although he wishes the Islamic State had been targeted in the recent Syrian airstrike, he knows the majority of those killed were civilians.

"We wish they were from among Islamic State," Moussa said. "Unfortunately, the big majority were civilians."