AWAITING ORDERS: An F/A-18E Super Hornet and an F/A-18F Super Hornet prepare to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush. Photo: Mail Online The United States and its Arab allies unleashed deadly bomb and missile strikes on jihadists in Syria yesterday, opening a new front in the battle against the Islamic State group. Dozens of IS and al-Qaeda militants were reported
killed in the raids, which Washington said had partly targeted extremists plotting an "imminent attack" against the West. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the operation, which involved fighter jets, bombers, drones and Tomahawk missiles fired from US warships. President Barack Obama, who had already launched strikes against IS militants in neighbouring Iraq, said "the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone. "It must be clear to anyone who would plot against America and try to do Americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people," he added. Pentagon described the strikes as "very successful". It said they hit targets including IS positions, training compounds, Advertisement command centres and armed vehicles in the jihadist stronghold of Raqa and near the border with Iraq. The raids marked a turning point in the war against IS, which has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and declared an Islamic "caliphate". The fact that the five Arab nations joining the strikes are Sunni-ruled will also be of crucial symbolic importance in the fight against the Sunni extremists of IS. Obama said Washington had the support of “more than 40 nations” who have offered to help with the broader effort against IS, by strengthening Iraq forces and Syrian opposition fighters, cutting off the militant group's financing, and stemming the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the region. At least 120 militants and eight civilians were killed in the US-led strikes, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors military activity in Syria. It said 70 of the killed militants were from Isis, while the other 50 it described as being aligned with the Nusra Front, the parent organisation of the Khorasan cell and al-Qaeda's preferred affiliate in Syria. About 100 critically injured fighters were taken to Iraq for treatment, it added. The eight reported eight civilian casualties, included three children. Reports about militants or civilians killed in the strikes could not be independently verified. Mayville said the Pentagon was “unaware of any civilian casualties”, adding that any reports of civilian deaths would be investigated. The switch in focus to IS strongholds in Syria marked a major turning point in Obama's foreign policy, reports The Guardian. “You are seeing the beginning of a sustained campaign, and strike like this in the future can be expected,” said Lt Gen William Mayville, the director of operations for the joints chiefs of staff, during a Pentagon briefing. Asked about the possible duration of the military offensive, he replied: “I would think of it in terms of years.” Mayville said the Pentagon was still assessing the affects of the strikes, which occurred in three waves, mostly carried out by the US, did not specifically target individual militant leaders. However they were considered “successful, with minimal collateral damage”, he said. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, added: “While it is not our policy to discuss future operations, I can tell you that last night's strikes were only the beginning.” LETTER TO UN In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power wrote, "The Syrian regime has shown that it cannot and will not confront these safe havens effectively itself." The strikes were needed to eliminate a threat to Iraq, the United States and its allies, she wrote, citing Article 51 of the UN Charter, which covers an individual or collective right to self-defence against armed attack. "States must be able to defend themselves ... when, as is the case here, the government of the state where the threat is located is unwilling or unable to prevent the use of its territory for such attacks," Power wrote in the letter obtained by Reuters. "Accordingly, the United States has initiated necessary and proportionate military actions in Syria in order to eliminate the ongoing (Islamic State) threat to Iraq," she wrote, adding that action was taken also against al Qaeda elements in Syria known as Khorasan "to address terrorist threats that they pose to the United States and our partners and allies." Ban circulated the letter to the UN Security Council, diplomats said. Under Article 51, the 15-member body must immediately be informed of any action that states take in self-defence against armed attack, reports Reuters. TURKEY TO 'JOIN COALITION' Nato member Turkey, another Sunni nation and a neighbour of Syria, has so far remained on the sidelines, but US Secretary of State John Kerry said Ankara had pledged to join the coalition. "Turkey is very much part of this coalition, and Turkey will be very engaged on the frontlines of this effort," Kerry said after meeting Turkish officials in New York. Speaking on national television, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara's contribution would consist of "all kinds of support including military and political". 'HUGE IMPACT' An anti-regime activist in Raqa, Abu Yusef, said IS had redeployed its fighters in response. "The impact of the strikes has been huge," and the jihadists "are focused on trying to save themselves now," he told AFP by Internet. The raids prompted many civilians living near IS positions across Syria to flee, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. That follows the exodus in recent days of tens of thousands of residents into neighbouring Turkey in response to an IS assault on a strategic Kurdish town in northern Syria.
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