200 air strikes in Syria

‘Increase in air strikes could be because the Syrian military wants to weaken rebel groups before they get training and equipment promised by the US’

• Kurds hold major part of Kobane, IS stalled: US
• 3 US teens held in Germany for trying to join IS

Beirut: The Syrian air force carried out more than 200 air strikes around the country in the past 36 hours, a group monitoring the war said on Tuesday, a rapid increase in government raids as US-led forces bomb Islamist insurgents elsewhere.

The intensified strikes by President Bashar al-Assad's forces will add to the fear among his opponents that the government is taking advantage of the US raids on Islamic State to attack other foes, including opposition groups that Washington backs.

Analysts say the increase could be because the Syrian military wants to weaken rebel groups before they get training and equipment promised by the United States. Since midnight Sunday, the regime carried out at least 210 raids, including barrel bombings, on provinces in the east, north and west of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In the southern province of Deraa, an anti-regime activist group said “at least” 15 raids killed 15 people in the border village of Nasib, while at least five members of a single family were killed by an airstrike and four barrel bombs dropped on the town of Yadouda.The Observatory said that 20 people were killed throughout the province Tuesday – two rebels in clashes with government forces and the rest civilians in a series of airstrikes. The slight discrepancies in casualty figures are common.

The strikes on Nasib, just north of the Jordanian border, came after rebels claimed to have defeated regime troops further north, in the town of Umm al-Mayadhen, following up on recent gains in the province. Meanwhile, Kurdish forces remain in control of most of the Syrian border town of Kobane and Islamic State jihadists have been unable to advance in the past several days, a US military spokesman said .The situation was still "tenuous" but for the moment, Kurdish forces were holding their ground and US air strikes had slowed the momentum of the IS group, Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters. "The situation in Kobane still remains tenuous. We do assess that Kurdish forces in the city are in control of the majority of the city," Kirby said. Meanwhile, three American teenage girls, who were on their way to Syria allegedly to join the Islamic State terror group, were detained in Germany and sent back to the US, FBI officials said.