MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – The Dutch government has decided to send six F-16 fighter jets to Iraq to help the US-led international coalition in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher said Wednesday.
"The Netherlands will make six F-16s available for the first phase of the campaign, for one year," Asscher said as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
Earlier in the day, the international coalition carried out airstrikes against IS insurgents in Syria. The strikes targeted the Syrian cities of Ayn al-Arab, Serrin and Qara Qozak and the suburbs of Aleppo, all under control of the militants.
Earlier in the week, the United States and its Arab allies Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates hit the IS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist targets using aircraft, drones and Tomahawk missiles, killing over 70 Islamic State fighters, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
