French, Russian raids kill 33 of ISIS

French and Russian airstrikes in northern Syria have killed at least 33 jihadists with the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the last 72 hours, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.

Dozens of ISIS fighters were also wounded in the raids on weapons depots, barracks and checkpoints in the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital of Raqa, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russian Air Force had by 1300 GMT carried out 59 flights in Syria out of planned 100 and destroyed 149 terrorist targets .

France intensified strikes on Raqa following last week’s attacks in Paris that left 129 dead, with warplanes carrying out dozens of raids on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Russia also pounded Raqa with long-range bombers and sea-launched missiles on Tuesday, after Moscow confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.

“The limited number of deaths can be explained by the fact that the jihadists had taken precautions,” said Abdel Rahman, who relies on a network of activists, medics and other sources inside Syria.

“There were only guards around the depots and barracks and most of those killed were at the checkpoints,” he said.

He said many families of foreign fighters had also left the city for Mosul in Iraq, another stronghold of ISIS, which has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.

The US-led coalition fighting ISIS conducted 16 airstrikes in Iraq and 13 in Syria on Tuesday, the US military said.

The Combined Joint Task Force said the Syria strikes hit near Abu Kamal, Hasaka, al-Hawl and included four strikes near Raqqa, where they destroyed three militant headquarters and a bivouac. The coalition has targeted the ISIS stronghold with intensified attacks since the deadly bombings in Paris.