(Al Jazeera)- Syria's opposition has called for international intervention targeting the Islamic State group, just days after the US began limited strikes against fighters from the same group in neighbouring Iraq.
Earlier, US officials had asked the Syrian opposition to call on the international community to hit the group and help rebels eliminate the self-declared jihadists, Al Jazeera learnt from sources inside the opposition.
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the main political opposition bloc, and the leadership of the Free Syrian Army, who made the appeal at a press conference in Gaziantep, Turkey on Saturday, also called for help fighting the Syrian army.
"The entire world is invited to intervene in a quick and effective way in order to support the fighters of the Free Syrian Army, who are fighting the gangs of terrorism," said Hadi al-Bahra, the president of the SNC.
"I call on the UN, and all countries that believe in freedom, including the US, to deal with the situation in Syria the same way they have dealt with the situation in Kurdistan, Iraq," Bahra said.
"The reasons are the same, the enemy is the same," the head of the SNC added.
The news come as the US is carrying out air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and a day after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that aims to weaken the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syria branch.
Commenting on the resolution, the Syrian Coalition's Special Representative to the UN, Najib Ghadbian, said: "The Syrian Coalition calls for targeted air strikes in Syria. Strikes should be backed up by an intensive train and equip programme for the moderate Syrian opposition forces that have been effectively fighting ISIS [Islamic State] for over a year."
Another member of the coalition told Al Jazeera that the group was "getting different promises" from the US.
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