ISIL Commanders' Meeting Bombed by Iraq

The Arabic-language Sumeriyah News quoted the Iraqi-Syrian Joint Command as reporting that an Iraqi F-16 fighter jet bombed an ISIL hideout that hosted the meeting in al-Souseh region in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

It further said that the ISIL hideout was fully destroyed in the raid, but, did not release any further detail on the number of casualties.

Syrian state media said earlier today that Iraqi forces can now attack ISIL targets inside Syria without getting approval from Damascus.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has authorized Iraqi forces to attack ISIL targets inside his country without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus, Syrian state news agency SANA said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) declared a caliphate in 2014 after seizing large swaths of Syria and Iraq, establishing its de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

However, the group has lost all of its strongholds and the vast majority of the territory it controlled since then, although thousands of its armed members are thought to remain in war-battered Syria.

Iraqi warplanes and artillery have pounded ISIL positions inside Syria in the past, after getting the green light from Syrian authorities.

The group has been defeated in Iraq but still holds a small area in Syria close to the Iraqi border.

On Saturday, al-Assad received a letter from Iraq's Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi calling for both countries' coordination in "fighting terrorism", SANA said.

In November, the Iraqi Air Force pounded a key base and a large arms depot of the ISIL terrorists in Eastern Syria near the border, inflicting tens of casualties on the terrorists.

The Joint Operation Command said in a statement that the Iraqi F-16 fighter jets targeted ISIL's bases on Syria's soil at the order of Iraq's General Command of the Armed Forces and under the supervision of the Joint Operation Command.

The statement said that the warplanes bombed an arms and ammunition depot of ISIL-affiliated Fayalq al-Farouq in al-Souseh region in Southeastern Deir Ezzur, adding that the depot contained a large number of missiles and explosives.

It added that a sum of 10 terrorists were killed in the raid.

The statement went on to say that the fighter jets attacked al-Baqouz region in Southeastern Deir Ezzur and bombed a base of Fayalq al-Farouq, destroying different missiles and killing a sum of 30 terrorists at the base.

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