Airstrikes target Syrian gas plant under IS control

An US aircraft taxis in the US Central Command area of responsibility prior to strike operations in Syria. Photo / US Air Force

The US-led coalition against jihadists in Syria has struck the entrance to the country's main gas plant, in an apparent warning to Islamic State (IS) militants to abandon the premises under their control, a monitor says.

"The international coalition has for the first time struck the entrance and prayer area of the Coneco gas plant. It is under IS control, and is the largest in Syria," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman on Sunday.

The United States and a group of mainly Gulf Arab allies began launching strikes against jihadist positions in Syria on Tuesday, a month and a half after strikes against the IS began in neighbouring Iraq.

Up until Sunday, the strikes had targeted mainly jihadist bases and makeshift oil refineries used by the militants, in a bid to weaken one of their main sources of financing.

The strike against the Coneco gas plant's entrance and prayer area "did not kill any jihadists, though it did injure some of them", Abdel Rahman told AFP.

"It appears as though the international coalition is trying to force the jihadists to leave the plant," he said.

The Coneco gas plant is located in eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor province, which is the country's richest in oil and is located on the Iraq border.

- AAP