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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes
targeted an office and a vehicle used by Nusra Front in Idlib
province in northwestern Syria, where last week the al
Qaeda-affiliated group routed Western-backed Syrian rebels.
The Observatory also reported the first air strikes against
Ahrar al-Sham, another hardline Islamist insurgent group.
Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Observatory, said it marked the
second time the Nusra Front has been hit in the U.S.-led
campaign. The first was on Sept. 23 - the first day of the U.S.
air strikes in Syria that are part of Washington's strategy to
"degrade and destroy" Islamic State.
The United States said that attack had targeted al Qaeda
veterans which it referred to as the Khorasan group.
Nusra Front last week seized control of areas of Idlib province
from Western-backed rebel leader Jamal Maarouf, head of the
Syria Revolutionaries' Front in northern Syria, confiscating its
weapons. It also took positions from the Hazzm movement, another
recipient of Arab and Western support.
It marked a big blow to the non-Islamist opponents of President
Bashar al-Assad who have generally struggled against better
armed and equipped Islamist groups including Nusra Front and
Islamic State.
The United States is planning to expand military support to what
it describes as the moderate opposition to Assad as part of its
strategy against Islamic State in Syria.
Nusra Front was once seen as the strongest insurgent group in
Syria but has been eclipsed this year by Islamic State, which
has seized wide areas of northern and eastern Syria.
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Dominic Evans)
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