Al-Nusra issues threat over air strikes targeting Islamic State

The al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front has denounced US-led air strikes on Syria, saying they amounted to a war against Islam and vowing to retaliate against Western and Arab countries that took part.

“We are in a long war. This war will not end in months nor years. This war could last for decades,” group spokesman Abu Firas al-Suri said. “It’s not a war against Nusra Front, it’s a war against Islam,” he added in an audio message published on the group’s social media network in its first reaction since the launch of the US-led strikes on Tuesday.

The air strikes that include some Gulf and European nations killed scores of Al-Nusra fighters in an attack on a base in a rebel held area of northwestern Syria on the first day of the military campaign.

"These countries have done a despicable act that will put them on the list of those targeted by jihadist forces all over the world," the spokesman said. The United States has been carrying out strikes in Iraq since August 8th and in Syria, with the help of Arab allies, since Tuesday. It says the campaign is aimed at "degrading and destroying" Islamist militants who have captured swathes of both countries. Front denounces US-led air strikes as "a war against Islam", as the campaign against Islamic State continues.

The US-led military coalition struck Islamic State militants in Syria near the border with Turkey, where Kurdish fighters have been struggling to stop the group's onslaught on a main Kurdish town.

A building and two armed vehicles belonging to Islamic State were destroyed near the town of Kobani, the US Central Command said yesterday.

At least three militants were killed, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the developments of the country’s civil war. The US-led coalition’s airstrikes to Kobani are seeking to help Kurdish fighters defending the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab.

The Islamic State attack on the territory this month has forced thousands to flee across into Turkey.

The US, which has been attacking Islamic State targets in Iraq since August, widened its military offensive against the group into Syria this month with the help of five Arab allies.

The coalition is the biggest US-Arab military venture since the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

Airstrikes in Syria also targeted oil refineries in the northern area of Tal Abyad, the observatory said today. The US says Islamic State uses modular facilities in its oil-smuggling operations.

Agencies