US airstrikes hit Nusra Front in Syria

US-led airstrikes targeted the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Syria Thursday, marking only the second time coalition airstrikes have hit jihadists outside of the "Islamic State," activists reported.

The coalition carried out "several raids after midnight" against Nusra Front targets in northwest Syria, killing several jihadists as well as two children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory also reported that another radical Islamist group, Ahrar al-Sham, had been hit for the first time with airstrikes. There was no immediate US comment on the strikes.

Militants reportedly confirmed the airstrikes on Twitter, claiming they were undertaken by "the alliance of Crusaders and Arabs on Al-Nusra positions, causing deaths, mostly of civilians."

The US-led coalition has been primarily hitting Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria for the past several weeks, and the recent strikes against the Nusra Front are only the second instance of coalition airstrikes hitting non-IS targets.

The coalition had previously targeted the Nusra Front in September during the first wave of airstrikes, accusing it of harboring a terror cell called "Khorasan" that was plotting to attack US and Western interests.

The strikes come after Nusra Front fighters made gains against Western-backed Syrian fighters in the country's northwestern Idlib region. The US is attempting to train what it describes as a moderate rebel force to combat both jihadists and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security forces.

The Nusra Front was once considered the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, but it has since been overtaken by the Islamic State, which has conquered vast stretches of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition continued its campaign against IS targets, hitting IS positions in the Syrian town of Tal Abyad on the border of Turkey.

bw/xx (Reuters, AFP, AP)