ISIS 'governor' killed in Iraq
The latest ISIS-appointed governor of Mosul was killed in coalition airstrikes on Thursday, reported CNN citing to Iraqi police.
In Syria, at least 53 civilians were killed when aircraft bombed a northern city controlled by the Islamic State.
Hassan Hassan Saeed Al-Jabouri, also known as Abu Taluut, was killed 18 miles south of Mosul in the village of Qayyara, according to Maj Gen Watheq Al-Hamdani, a senior regional Iraqi police commander who is leading the government's efforts to retake Mosul from ISIS.
Jabouri is the second ISIS-appointed governor of Mosul killed by airstrikes and had been in office for less than 25 days. Earlier this month, US airstrikes killed one of his predecessors, Radwan Taleb Al-Hamdouni, according to US security officials, reports CNN.
Mosul is a key stronghold for ISIS fighters and was taken from Iraqi forces earlier this year. The Pentagon said that it has a strategy to retake the city beginning in January.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition pounded the ISIS jihadist group with 31 air strikes , including more than a dozen in the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane, the Pentagon said.
The 13 strikes in Kobane, which is known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic, destroyed 19 fighting positions, as well as ISIS buildings, staging areas and a vehicle, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Several tactical units were also hit by fighter and bomber aircraft, as well drones, the statement said.
In Iraq, strikes destroyed an ISIS rocket system near the town of Al Asad in Anbar province. The jets and drones also targeted ISIS vehicles, fighting positions, equipment, tactical units, and a storage container, in a total of 15 raids across seven locations in Iraq.
In Syria, regime air strikes killed at least 52 civilians, including seven children, in strongholds of the Islamic State jihadist group, a monitoring group said yesterday.
The raids struck Al-Bab and Qbasin Thursday in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.
Previously the toll had stood at 37 dead.
The regime air force has killed thousands of people since it was first deployed in the war in July 2012.
Activists accuse the government of killing more civilians than jihadists in the raids.
The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called on the government to refrain from using its air force against inhabited areas.
The country's multi-sided civil war has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced half of its population.
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