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'US expanding air strip' in north Syria Syria conflict: 'US expanding air strip' in Kurdish north
(35 minutes later)
BBC obtains satellite imagery apparently showing US work to expand air strip in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria Satellite images appearing to show the US expanding a formerly disused air strip in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria have been seen by the BBC.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. The image, from the security analysts Stratfor, shows a runway near the town of Rmeilan being extended from 700m (half a mile) to 1.3km.
If you want to receive Breaking News alerts via email, or on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App then details on how to do so are available on this help page. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. That would be long enough to land a Hercules aircraft.
BBC Arabic security correspondent Murad Shishani says it could be a new US move against the so-called Islamic State.
Battle for Iraq and Syria in maps
Where key countries stand
Rumours of US military activity in the area have been circulating for weeks, Stratfor says.
Rmeilan is in Hassakeh province in north-east Syria.
A US-led coalition of of Western and Middle Eastern countries began air strikes against IS in Iraq in August 2014 and in Syria a month later.
Turkey has allowed the US to use its Incirlik airbase, in the south of the country, near north-west Syria.
Russia began carrying out its own air strikes in Syria in September 2015 after a request from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He has clung on to power despite more than four years of civil war. Russia has an airbase at Latakia, in western Syria.