At least 14 Islamic State fighters were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led forces overnight in northeast Syria, a group monitoring the war said on Thursday.
The strikes also killed at least five civilians, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A third night of U.S.-led air strikes late on Wednesday targeted Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in eastern Syria as the United States and its allies tried to stem a major source of revenue for the al Qaeda offshoot, U.S. officials said.
The strikes hit facilities around al Mayadin, al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal, the U.S. military said.
The initial days of U.S. strikes suggest another aim is to hamper Islamic State's ability to operate across the Syria-Iraq frontier.
This as Kurdish forces in northern Syria have pushed back an advance by Islamic State fighters towards the town of Kobani in overnight clashes, two Kurdish officials said.
Islamic State launched a fresh offensive to try to capture Kobani more than a week ago. More than 100,000 Kurds have fled the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, and surrounding villages into Turkey.
On another note, the Syrian army has taken full control of a formerly insurgent-held area northeast of Damascus, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said on Thursday, strengthening President Bashar al-Assad's grip on territory around the capital.
The area - Adra al-Omalia - is around 30 km (19 miles) from central Damascus but far from parts of Syria where the United States has launched air strikes against Islamic State militants.
"The Syrian Army takes full control of the town of Adra al-Omalia in the eastern countryside of Damascus," al-Manar said in a news flash.
Assad's forces, backed by the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, have been gradually extending control over a corridor of territory from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast this year, seizing towns and villages along the main north-south highway and in the mountainous Qalamoun along the Lebanese border.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said at least 29 people - 18 of them rebel fighters - died during fighting on Wednesday between insurgents and government forces in the outskirts of Damascus.
The U.S.-led air strikes that started on Tuesday have concentrated on northern and eastern Syria.
French Defense Ministry:
France's possible participation in air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria is "on the table", Defence Minister said on Thursday, hours after President Francois Hollande ruled out such strikes.
France has joined the coalition bombing of Islamic State targets in Iraq on the basis it was asked for help by Baghdad, but has refrained from doing so in Syria, instead supporting the moderate opposition against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But Le Drian told RTL Radio when asked about the possibility France might join raids in Syria: "The opportunity is not there today. We already have an important task in Iraq and we will see in the coming days how the situation evolves."
Pressed further on whether it was a possibility in future, Le Drian - who is taking part in a war cabinet meeting with Hollande on Thursday - said: "The question is on the table".
France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius said this week there was no legal barrier to such a move. Since then, Algerian militants claiming allegiance to Islamic State released a video on Wednesday showing the beheading of a French tourist.
Le Drian also said French miltary aircraft were "at this very moment" in action over Iraq.
REUTERS