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Damascus says Washington informed Syrian UN envoy before striking Islamic State group in Syria

Associated Press
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Graphic shows five Arab countries that conducted airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm; (The Associated Press)

FILE - This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the Islamic State group marching in Raqqa, Syria. The Syrian foreign ministry said Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 that Washington informed Damascus' envoy to the United Nations before launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, attacks that activists said inflicted casualties among jihadi fighters and civilians on the ground. (AP Photo/Militant Website, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this June 16, 2014 file photo, demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group slogans as they carry the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. The Syrian foreign ministry said Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 that Washington informed Damascus' envoy to the United Nations before launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, attacks that activists said inflicted casualties among jihadi fighters and civilians on the ground. (AP Photo, File) (The Associated Press)

Syria's foreign ministry says the United States informed Damascus' envoy to the United Nations before launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Syrian state media carried a brief statement from the foreign ministry early on Tuesday, saying that "the American side informed Syria's permanent envoy to the U.N. that strikes will be launched against the Daesh terrorist organization in Raqqa."

The statement used an Arabic name referring to the Islamic State group. The city of Raqqa is the militant group's self-declared capital in Syria.

It was Damascus' first official reaction after the U.S. and five Arab countries launched airstrikes on Islamic State group's targets in Syria late Monday, expanding a military campaign into a country whose three-year civil war has given the brutal militant group a safe haven.