Syria’s foreign ministry said Damascus had been informed by Washington about imminent air strikes which began early Tuesday against the jihadist Islamic State (IS) on Syrian soil.

“The Americans had informed the Syrian representative at the United Nations that strikes would be carried out against the terrorist IS organisation in Raqa” in the north of the country, said the ministry, according to state television.

For the first time in Syria’s three-year war, US and Arab allies hammered jihadists in the north of the country, opening a new front against the extremists.

The Pentagon has not yet confirmed where the strikes took place.

Raqa is the jihadists’ main bastion in Syria. The IS controls Raqa province, most of Deir Ezzor in the east, as well as sections of Aleppo in the north.

bur-ser/hmn