Iraqi air forces have launched strikes on Islamic State positions in Syria, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. They were carried out in coordination with the Syrian government, the Iraqi military confirmed.

The airstrikes demonstrate the increased capacity of the Iraqi forces to “pursue and eliminate terrorism,” the statement from Iraqi PM office added.

“Our heroic air force carried out, on Thursday, in Syria near the Iraqi border, deadly airstrikes against Daesh's [IS] terrorists gangs,” the statement from the PM’s Media Office on Twitter said.

According to the orders of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Dr. Haider Al-Abadi, our heroic air force carried out, on Thursday, in Syria near Iraqi border deadly air strikes against Daesh's Terrorists gangs. — PM Media Office (@IraqiPMO) April 19, 2018

Baghdad deployed F16 fighter aircraft to cross into Syria and conduct the strikes, Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told Reuters.

Iraq supports the Syrian government in its crackdown against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists. When the US, the UK and France recently launched airstrikes on Syria in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack in the city of Douma, Baghdad criticized the move, calling it “extremely dangerous.” The actions taken by the trio of world powers will only “give terrorism a new opportunity to expand” after it was defeated in Iraq and mostly overpowered in Syria, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in statement.

READ MORE: US-led strikes on Syria ‘extremely dangerous,’ threaten lives of civilians – Iraq

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