The US launched air and missile strikes with Arab allies in Syria for the first time yesterday, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al-Qaeda-linked group, and widening its new war in the Middle East.
“I can confirm US military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk land attack missiles,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.
US Central Command said Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had either participated or supported the strikes against targets.
US forces also launched strikes to “disrupt imminent attack” against US and Western interests by “seasoned al-Qaeda veterans” who had established a safe haven in Syria, it said, apparently referring to attacks against a separate group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said at least 20 Islamic State fighters were killed in strikes that hit at least 50 targets in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces in Syria’s east.
It said strikes had also targeted the Nusra Front, in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, killing at least 30 fighters and eight civilians. The Nusra Front is al-Qaeda’s official Syrian wing and Islamic State’s rival.
The air attacks fulfil President Barack Obama’s pledge to strike in Syria against Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq, imposing a medieval interpretation of Islam, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi’ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.
Islamic State vowed revenge.
“These attacks will be answered,” an Islamic State fighter said by Skype from Syria, blaming the “sons of Saloul” – a derogatory term for Saudi Arabia’s ruling family – for allowing the strikes to take place.
The Sunni fighters, who have proclaimed a caliphate ruling over all Muslims, alarmed the Middle East by sweeping through northern Iraq in June. They shocked the West in recent weeks by beheading two US journalists and a British aid worker, raising fears that they could attack Western countries.
The strikes took place hours before Obama goes to New York for the UN General Assembly where he will try to rally more nations behind his drive to aggressively take on Islamic State.
The action pitches Washington for the first time into the three-year-old Syrian civil war. — Reuters
US, Arab allies switch to attack mode in Syria
“I can confirm US military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk land attack missiles,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.
US Central Command said Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had either participated or supported the strikes against targets.
US forces also launched strikes to “disrupt imminent attack” against US and Western interests by “seasoned al-Qaeda veterans” who had established a safe haven in Syria, it said, apparently referring to attacks against a separate group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said at least 20 Islamic State fighters were killed in strikes that hit at least 50 targets in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces in Syria’s east.
It said strikes had also targeted the Nusra Front, in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, killing at least 30 fighters and eight civilians. The Nusra Front is al-Qaeda’s official Syrian wing and Islamic State’s rival.
The air attacks fulfil President Barack Obama’s pledge to strike in Syria against Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq, imposing a medieval interpretation of Islam, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi’ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.
Islamic State vowed revenge.
“These attacks will be answered,” an Islamic State fighter said by Skype from Syria, blaming the “sons of Saloul” – a derogatory term for Saudi Arabia’s ruling family – for allowing the strikes to take place.
The Sunni fighters, who have proclaimed a caliphate ruling over all Muslims, alarmed the Middle East by sweeping through northern Iraq in June. They shocked the West in recent weeks by beheading two US journalists and a British aid worker, raising fears that they could attack Western countries.
The strikes took place hours before Obama goes to New York for the UN General Assembly where he will try to rally more nations behind his drive to aggressively take on Islamic State.
The action pitches Washington for the first time into the three-year-old Syrian civil war. — Reuters
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