Islamic State 'targeted by strikes on Syria border'

Islamic State fighters besieging the Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border have been targeted by air strikes, reports from the area say.

Warplanes circled through Friday night and explosions were heard in the early hours, the BBC's Paul Wood says.

Kurdish fighters have been defending the town from an advance by Islamic State militants.

There has been no word from the US-led coalition on whether it carried out air strikes in the area.

Kobane has become a flashpoint over the past week, as an estimated 140,000 civilians have fled the town and surrounding area.

Those displaced Kurds have crossed the nearby border with Turkey.

The situation has been tense, with Turkish troops trying to prevent Turkish and Syrian Kurds crossing the border to help defend the town.

Overnight, the head of the US armed forces said air strikes in Syria were damaging the jihadist group, but said air power alone was not enough to defeat the militants.

A UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said air strikes continued on Saturday in Syria, with IS targets in the central province of Homs hit for the first time.

Strikes were also reported in the town of Minbej, east of Aleppo, for the first time, as well as new strikes on the city of Raqqa, which serves as IS headquarters, the activist group said.

The targets were far away from positions held by Syrian government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the Observatory's director told the AFP news agency.

The sound of warplanes circling overhead is nearly constant. And in the early hours of the morning people heard what they said were multiple air strikes against Islamic State positions.

Not before time, say the Kurdish forces defending this place. They are in the fight of their lives, with the jihadis now just a 10-minute drive from the town, and threatening to push further.

At the last Kurdish position outside Kobane last night bullets whined overhead and shells fell either side of the main road to the town.

The Kurds are grateful for the air strikes, but the battle for Kobane is far from over.

Coalition growing

On Friday the UK became the latest nation to join the US-led coalition against IS, which controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq after rapid advances in the summer.

MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of air strikes in Iraq, but not in Syria.

Two of six RAF Tornados based in Cyprus took off on Saturday morning, heading for Iraq.

Their mission was unconfirmed but a BBC correspondent said they were loaded with laser-guided bombs and missiles and followed by an RAF refuelling tanker.

The UK also has a Rivet Joint spy plane in the region.

UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said "intensified surveillance" would identify "convoys" of IS fighters.

Speaking to BBC's Newsnight, he warned the campaign would be "long and drawn out".

French fighter jets are already taking part in strikes in Iraq with Belgium and the Netherlands each pledging six F-16s planes and Denmark deploying seven.

About 40 countries, including several from the Middle East, have joined the US-led coalition against IS.

European countries have so far only agreed to strike targets in Iraq where the government has asked for help.

But US aircraft have also attacked IS targets in eastern Syria, including oil installations.

Several US Arab allies - Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - have "participated in or supported" the strikes.