A US warplane lands on the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. (AP)
The United States has executed two air strikes on an Islamic State group staging area in eastern Syria, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The target of the strikes was an area used by the militants to move equipment across the border into Iraq, according to Rear Admiral John Kirby.
Earlier today, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported air strikes in and around the eastern Syrian city of Boukamal.
Rear Admiral Kirby said that the US also struck Islamic State (IS) targets in Iraq, near the Kurdish city of Irbil and the capital, Baghdad.
The American-led coalition conducted more than 200 air strikes on Tuesday against roughly two dozen targets in Syria, including several in Boukamal along the Syria-Iraq border.
The (IS) group controls a vast stretch of territory spanning the frontier.
Its fighters are waging a two-front war, in Iraq and Syria, as they seek to expand the boundaries of their self-declared state ruled by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The UN has accused the group of committing atrocities in both countries.
The US-led campaign against the extremists has met with mixed reaction from Syria's multitude of rebel brigades, many of which have been locked in a deadly fight with IS militants since January.
But the rebels' ultimate goal is to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the US is focused on defeating the IS group.
The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group has criticised the US-led air strikes for being limited to the IS group and other extremists while leaving Assad's government untouched.
'We regret that the international community has come up with partial solutions to the Syrian conflict in which hundreds of thousands were killed or detained by the Assad regime,' said Nasr al-Hariri, secretary general of the Syrian National Coalition.
In a statement, he also said that any effort other than helping Syrians overthrow Assad will only further fuel extremism.
Press Association
Entities 0 Name: Syria Count: 4 1 Name: Assad Count: 3 2 Name: Iraq Count: 3 3 Name: US Count: 3 4 Name: Boukamal Count: 2 5 Name: Bashar Assad Count: 1 6 Name: Bush Count: 1 7 Name: Kirby Count: 1 8 Name: Syria-Iraq Count: 1 9 Name: Baghdad Count: 1 10 Name: Syrian Count: 1 11 Name: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Count: 1 12 Name: Irbil Count: 1 13 Name: United States Count: 1 14 Name: AP Count: 1 15 Name: Persian Gulf Count: 1 16 Name: John Kirby Count: 1 17 Name: Syrian National Coalition Count: 1 18 Name: Britain Count: 1 19 Name: UN Count: 1 20 Name: Islamic State Count: 1 21 Name: Nasr al-Hariri Count: 1 22 Name: Pentagon Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1mRu8wm Title: U.S. and Arab allies launch first strikes on fighters in Syria Description: WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and its Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing scores of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group, opening a new front against militants by joining Syria's three-year-old civil war.
