MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) — The US-led coalition against Islamic State has hit the militant's headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Wednesday.
"Coalition warplanes bombarded areas near the cultural center near Maadan, which is taken over by ISIS as a HQ," the organization said on its website.
According to SOHR, eight explosions have been heard in Raqqa and its surroundings as the anti-IS coalition has carried out airstrikes on "political security buildings near the old bridge in the south entrance of Raqqa and areas around the city". No casualties have been reported, the London-based observatory said.
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni Islamist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories that had fallen under its control.
The United States and a number of its allies have been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq since August. In September, the coalition started conducting attacks against the IS in Syria as well.
