WASHINGTON: US and Arab warplanes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria overnight, targeting fighters, artillery and combat equipment in nine airstrikes, the US military said.

The latest attacks came amid news of the beheading of a fourth western hostage, British aid worker Alan Henning, whose videotaped execution was posted on the Internet.

US bombers and fighter jets also carried out five airstrikes against the IS group in Iraq.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 35 militants were killed in the airstrikes overnight in Syria.

The US was joined by Jordanian, Saudi and UAE warplanes in the attacks inside Syria, which involved a mix of fighter aircraft and drones.

Four of the airstrikes were around Kobane, a town along the Syrian border with Turkey that has been under attack by IS fighters.

Two of those strikes hit a large IS unit, a building, three artillery positions and an IS vehicle east of Kobane, which also is known as Ain al Arab, US Central Command said.

South of Kobane, a small IS unit, an armored personnel carrier, and a vehicle were struck in two other air attacks.

The warplanes also struck an IS depot and logistics complex in Hasakeh, where 30 militants were reported killed.

Centcom said strikes also damaged the Taqba Airfield southwest of Raqa and another destroyed an artillery piece west of there.

Two airstrikes southeast of Deir Ezzor destroyed a tank and a vehicle.

Meanwhile, Islamic State fighters stormed a town in Iraq’s western Anbar province on Saturday, its latest conquest in the desert region where it has chalked up a string of victories, a military official and people fleeing the scene said.

Islamic State seized the town of Kubaisa two days after the fall of the nearby town of Hit as the group sought to consolidate control in towns west of Anbar’s capital Ramadi.

The fall of Kubaisa jeopardizes the strategic Ain Al-Asad military base, which allows Iraqi forces to send troops and supplies to defend the Haditha dam further west where a small number of Sunni tribes and government forces are fending off Islamic State forces.

Ain Al-Asad lies beyond both Hit and Kubaisa. At least two civilians were killed and six others wounded in Kubaisa, said an official at the hospital in Hit.

Since taking Hit on Thursday, Islamic State fighters have raised their flags on the municipality building and police stations, while Islamic State vehicles were patrolling the streets of the town.

Islamic State took advantage of refugees fleeing Hit to enter Kubaisa, 19 km to the east.

A man escaping Hit, named Abu Saif, described approaching the checkpoint for Kubaisa when three or four cars sped up from behind them and shot dead the soldiers guarding the city. “We thought that they were displaced families as well. They didn’t look like Islamic State militants to us,” Abu Saif said.

In Mosul, for Eid Al-Adha, Islamic State released a video of its followers celebrating the day in Mosul, with children waving machine guns and followers holding its black flag.