Damascus, Sep 23 (IANS): At least seven fighters of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and eight civilians were killed Tuesday in the US-led airstrikes against the positions of the extremist groups in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib in Syria, according to the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Three positions of the Nusra Front between Idlib and the northwestern province of Aleppo were hit by the US-led airstrikes, said the Observatory, adding that the Islamic State (IS) militants had evacuated their positions in the city of Manbej in the countryside of Aleppo ahead of the strikes, Xinhua reported.
In the city of al-Bab in Aleppo, the IS fighters imposed a curfew Monday evening that lasted till Tuesday morning, according to the Observatory.
The US and its partners began striking IS targets in Syria with a mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles before daybreak Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have reportedly participated in the airstrikes. The Syrian government said it was informed about the strike ahead of its occurrence.
Earlier Tuesday, the US Defense Department announced that the US and allied nations launched air attacks against the IS Sunni extremist group in Syria.
"Forces of the United States and allied nations have begun attacks on IS in Syria using a combination of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles," Efe news agency quoted Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby as saying on Twitter.
The US Central Command, in charge of operations in the Middle East, took the decision to begin the attacks after receiving President Barak Obama's authorisation, Kirby said in a brief statement without providing further details "given that the operation is in progress", the Efe report said.
Two weeks ago Obama said the US would extend into Syria its air operations against the IS in Iraq.
The IS offensive against religious and ethnic minorities in northern Iraq over the past several months, coupled with grisly videos of the jihadis beheading captured Westerners, galvanised the US into attacking the group.
Obama has insisted this operation would be different from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because it would not involve the deployment of US troops on the ground.
But some senior military officials have said it was impossible to defeat the IS without ground combat.
The US launched its first attack against the IS near Baghdad just over a week ago.
Until then the strikes had been limited to the jihadis' positions in the north for the protection of US diplomats and other officials in the area and for humanitarian reasons.
At the request of the president, the US Congress has also authorised the arming of Syrian rebels fighting the IS, a "key element" of Obama's strategy in stopping the jihadis.