DHAKA: The US-led coalition against Islamic States (IS) has targeted oil refineries in Syria during a third night of air strikes against the militants.

The raids - carried out by US, Saudi and UAE aircraft - killed 14 IS fighters and five civilians in eastern Syria, activists said that reports the BBC on Thursday.

The US military said the refineries generated as much as $2 million (£1.2m) per day in revenue for IS.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to dismantle the IS ‘network of death’.

IS has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq in recent months and controls several oilfields. Sales of smuggled crude oil have helped finance its offensive in both countries.

The US has launched nearly 200 air strikes against the militants in Iraq since August and expanded the operation against IS to Syria on Monday.

The US military said the latest strikes, using fighter jets and drones, hit ‘small-scale’ refineries that were producing ‘between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum per day’.

“We are still assessing the outcome of the attack on the refineries, but have initial indications that the strikes were successful,” the US Central Command said in a statement.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that monitors the Syrian conflict, said the strikes killed 14 IS fighters in Deir al-Zour and five civilians in Hassakeh.

BDST: 1613 HRS, SEP 25, 2014