WASHINGTON — A coalition led by the United States conducted 20 airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and three against the militant group in Syria Saturday, according to a statement released by the Combined Joint Task Force Sunday.
In Iraq, the coalition conducted five strikes near the town of Hit, where it destroyed a facility for making vehicle bombs, a command and control facility, and one of the headquarters for Islamic State. Other airstrikes were spread across the country, according to the statement.
In Syria, the strikes hit and destroyed targets near Al Hasakah, Abu Kamal and Mar’a.
In a separate statement issued later, the coalition said it had also conducted airstrikes in Iraq near Kubaysah, where it hit parts of a cement factory that it said Islamic State was using to house fighters, equipment and weapons.
The attacks near Hit and Kubaysah were part of a strategy to hamper Islamic State’s ability to produce improvised explosive devices and prepare for attacks, which will set “the conditions in Anbar for the eventual liberation of the province by Iraqi Security Forces,” Col. Christopher Garver, a public affairs officer for the task force, said in the later statement.
Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande told reporters at the United Nations that his country destroyed an Islamic State training camp in Syria Sunday.