WASHINGTON -- Accelerating its attacks on one of the Islamic State's most important sources of income, the U.S. military said Monday that it destroyed 283 tanker trucks used by the militants to transport oil from producing fields in eastern Syria to smuggling points.
The attack, by four A-10 attack planes and two AC-130 gunships, was carried out Saturday at a site near Deir el-Zour and al-Hasakah but not reported until Monday. It followed a similar assault on Nov. 15 that destroyed 116 tanker trucks and is part of a broader air campaign, dubbed Operation Tidal Wave II, designed to cripple the militants' oil producing, refining and distribution system. The U.S. has said oil provides about half the group's total income.
Until Nov. 15, the U.S. had refrained from attacking oil trucks, fearing it could cause unintended civilian deaths.
In its daily summary of airstrikes, the U.S.-led military coalition said Monday that 283 vehicles had been struck in eastern Syria on Saturday but did not elaborate. Army Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said in an email exchange that the vehicles were oil tanker trucks and that the attack was part of the broader oil targeting campaign.
U.S. aircraft dropped warning leaflets and made strafing runs in the area to persuade the civilian drivers of the tanker trucks to abandon their vehicles before the bombing began, Warren said, adding that the U.S. believes that no civilians were injured or killed.
Islamic State controls nearly all of Syria's oil fields, concentrated in the east of the country, producing some 30,000 barrels a day, along with one field in Iraq. It smuggles the oil mainly to Turkey, selling at cut-rate prices and generating nearly $50 million a month.
Russia also has begun targeting the Islamic State's oil infrastructure with airstrikes, including attacks on tanker trucks.
The U.S.-led coalition has targeted oil infrastructure occasionally in the past, including a heavy attack last month on Syria's Omar field near the town of Deir el-Zour that hit refineries, command and control centers and transportation nodes.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes captured areas from the Islamic State in the central province of Homs on Monday, state media and a monitoring group said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops backed by pro-government gunmen entered the town of Mheen and the nearby village of Hawareen after midnight Sunday and were in full control of the area hours later.
Syrian state TV also reported that Mheen and Hawareen were captured, adding that government forces are now removing the mines and explosives left behind by the extremist group to try to slow down the army's advance.
"A big victory was achieved by our heroes," said a Syrian TV reporter embedded with government troops in Mheen.
The capture of Mheen and Hawareen helps secure the highway linking the capital, Damascus, to the central city of Homs. The government's next push is expected to target the nearby town of Qaryatain and later the historic town of Palmyra, which was taken by the Islamic State in May.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published Sunday that his forces are advancing on "almost" all fronts thanks to Russian airstrikes.
The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships played a major role in opening the way for troops to advance in the desert near Homs. He added that about 50 Islamic State fighters were killed in days of fighting in Mheen, Hawareen and surrounding areas.
Homs-based opposition activist Bebars al-Talawy said that government forces were backed by members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
Syrian troops have captured dozens of villages in northern, western and central Syria since the Russian airstrikes began.
The Observatory said the Russian airstrikes have killed 403 civilians, including 97 children under the age of 18. It said the strikes killed 381 Islamic State fighters as well as 547 gunmen from other insurgent groups.
The Violations Documentation Center in Syria, an activist group that keeps track of Syria's dead, wounded and missing persons, said that the first 45 days of Russian airstrikes killed 526 civilians, including 137 children and 71 women.
In Iraq, the Civil Aviation Authority suspended flights to the northern Kurdish self-ruled region for two days starting Monday because of Russia's air campaign in Syria, a statement said.
The statement, which was issued late Sunday, said the flight suspension to the cities of Irbil and Sulaimaniyah is to "protect travelers" as cruise missiles and bombers cross northern Iraq from the Caspian Sea to Syria. It said airports in other parts of the country will operate normally.
Russia began airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 30. Last month, its warships in the Caspian Sea fired cruise missiles nearly 930 miles over Iran and Iraq.
In September, an intelligence sharing center was set up in Baghdad by Russia, Iraq, Iran and Syria to coordinate efforts to combat the Islamic State group.
A U.S.-led coalition is also striking the Islamic State group in Syria but is not coordinating its efforts with Assad or Russia beyond communicating with Moscow to prevent midair mishaps.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns, Albert Aji, Bassem Mroue and Sinan Salaheddin of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/24/2015