Local Editor

Syria's army has been pounding for 24 hours major bases of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL] in coordination with the Baghdad government, a monitor said on Sunday.

The strikes against "ISIL," which has spearheaded a week-long offensive in Iraq, have been more intense than ever, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian government air force "has been pounding "ISIL's" bases, including those in the northern province of Raqa and Hasakeh in the northeast," which borders Iraq, said the Britain-based group.

Moreover, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes were the government's most "intense" against "ISIL," and that they were being carried out "in coordination with the Iraqi authorities."

The Syrian government was responding to the fact that "ISIL" "brought into Syria heavy weapons including tanks" captured from the Iraqi army.

In Raqa, the air force bombed the area surrounding "ISIL's" main headquarters in Syria, as well as the group's religious courts, said the Observatory.

On Saturday, the government forces also bombarded "ISIL's" headquarters at Shaddadi in Hasakeh, home to a frontier crossing from Iraq that is under the insurgents' control.

The government in Baghdad has been gearing up for a counter-offensive against "ISIL" in areas where the militant group and others have recently advanced in northern Iraq.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team