US-led coalition strikes IS oil refineries in Syria

The US-led anti-IS coalition bombed Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in Syria on Wednesday as President Barack Obama recruited more allies to fight the militant "network of death."

US, Saudi and Emirati warplanes broadened their bombardment to target the oil installations in eastern Syria that have helped fund the military group's brutal rise from rebel faction to alleged global threat.

The strikes came as Obama urged leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly to join his coalition and convinced the Security Council to back a resolution to stem the flow of foreign fighters that has swelled the IS ranks.

Belgium and the Netherlands committed warplanes to Iraq and Britain said its parliament would vote Friday on potentially following suit.

"The United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death," Obama told the UN referring to the Islamic State group, which has already taken control of vast swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.

"Today I ask the world to join in this effort."

Meanwhile, an IS-linked group in Algeria which had demanded France halt its participation in the strikes posted video footage of the execution of an abducted Frenchman. 

"We will use our military might in a campaign of air strikes to roll back ISIL," Obama declared, using the acronym for the former Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, since renamed the Islamic State.