Strikes hit IS jihadists near besieged Syria town: Monitor

BEIRUT - The US-led coalition has launched raids against jihadists near a Kurdish town in Syria surrounded by Islamic State fighters, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

Planes carried out several strikes on IS positions and supply lines west of the northern border town of Ain al-Arab, or Kobane, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The strikes took place just before and after midnight on Wednesday, it said.

The raids came after the first strikes by Washington and its Arab allies on Tuesday against the Islamic State group in other parts of Syria.

At least 120 jihadists from IS and Al-Qaeda in Syria, as well as eight civilians, have been killed in the strikes so far.

The raids around Ain al-Arab come a week after IS militants began a fierce assault against the strategic border town, which is Syria's third-largest Kurdish town.

IS seized at least 64 villages surrounding the town in several days of fighting as it advanced towards the town, prompting more than 130,000 civilians to flee across the border into Turkey.

In recent days, Kurdish fighters have managed to slow the jihadist advance.