French forces have bombarded ISIL targets in the Syrian city of Raqqa, apparently destroying a heavy weapons storage and maintenance centre.
It comes as the five year civil war becomes even more complicated, with fighting elsewhere threatening to open up a new front.
Syrian rebels are preparing an attack to seize Jarablus – on the Turkey border – from the so-called Islamic State.
Kurdish YPG militia are also said to have launched a major assault in Hasaka, to seize remaining government controlled areas.
Recent fighting in Hasaka marks the most violent confrontation between the YPG and Damascus in the war so far.
The Kurdish militia is at the heart of a US-led campaign against ISIL militants in Syria and controls swaths of the north.
Syrian state media’s accused a YPG affiliated security force of violating a ceasefire.
Thousands of people have fled Hasaka, where the Syrian army’s deployed war planes against the Kurdish group for the first time.
The loss of the city would be a big blow to Damascus and Moscow, which is trying to help the government regain territory.
