Jihadists among 31 dead in Syria air raids

BEIRUT, Sept 6 (AFP): Syrian air strikes in the jihadist-held northern city of Raqa on Saturday killed 31 people, including 15 Islamic State (IS) members, a monitoring group said.

"Regime warplanes carried out eight air strikes targeting Raqa and its surroundings," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

At least 15 jihadists and 16 civilians including three children and two women were killed. Eight of the civilian dead were from a single family.

The strikes come amid a stepped-up campaign by President Bashar al-Assad's regime targeting IS positions in north and east Syria.

Activists say such air raids often kill many civilians as well as jihadists.

Similar strikes on Tuesday in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor killed 16 people including 10 children.

Among the targets on Saturday were a building housing an IS Islamic court and a training camp.

Seventeen of the dead were killed when a bakery was hit.

The Islamic State group first emerged in Syria's war in late spring 2013, when it was named the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Its horrific abuses, including near-daily public executions, have made it widely feared in areas it controls, but activists say people stay silent for fear of reprisals.

In a separate development, the Observatory said the number of people killed in a Friday air strike targeting a Syrian rebel-held area of Aleppo city in the north has risen to 15.

Insurgent areas of Aleppo have come under massive aerial bombardment since December, killing hundreds of people and prompting tens of thousands to flee to safety.

The regime has kept up its offensive despite a UN Security Council resolution in February condemning such strikes.

And east of Damascus, regime troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters made another gain against rebel forces by taking the village of Hteitet Jarash, the Observatory said.