REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIRUT -- At least 12 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) group have been killed in Russia's first air strikes on the jihadist faction's main Syrian bastion, a monitoring group said on Friday.
Russian air attacks also targeted the Army of Conquest, the most powerful Islamist coalition battling Syrian regime forces in the northwest, a security source on the ground said.
The defence ministry in Moscow confirmed it had carried out strikes on Raqa province on Thursday, as well as raids on the provinces of Aleppo in the north, Idlib in the northwest and Hama in central Syria.
The strikes are the first time Russia has targeted IS's stronghold in Raqa province, the de facto Syrian capital of its self-styled "caliphate".
Russia's defence ministry said Su-34 planes hit "an IS training camp near the village of Maadan Jadid", 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of Raqa city, and "a camouflaged command post at Kasrat Faraj, southwest of Raqa".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those strikes had killed at least a dozen IS fighters.
"Last night, Russian strikes on the western edges of Raqa city, and near the Tabqa military airport, killed 12 IS jihadists," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Activists and Raqa residents said IS had cancelled Friday prayers and emptied mosques there, fearing more Russian strikes.
"The residents are very afraid, especially if the Russians are going to operate like regime planes by targeting civilians," said activist Abu Mohammad who is from Raqa.
Speaking to AFP via the Internet, he said residents were staying indoors, and IS "has started to implement a plan to turn off electricity in a number of areas of the city when planes are overhead".
Moscow said Friday its warplanes had "conducted 18 sorties on 12 positions held by the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria" since Thursday.
The defence ministry said raids destroyed "a command post and communications centre" held by IS in Daret Ezza in Aleppo province and "completely destroyed" bunkers and weapons depots in Maaret al-Numan and Habeet in Idlib province.
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