U.S., allies destroy ISIS targets

kill al-Nusra Front leader in 'powerful message to the world'

 

 

The Islamic State’s command and control center in Syria was reduced to a charred shell — crushed by American bombs that were delivered with ruthless precision. The target was pulverized by an F-22 fighter plane — the first time the aircraft had ever been used in combat.
ISIS had a finance center that was used to move the terror group’s blood money around. Now a whole corner of the building is missing — reduced to rubble by a pinpoint strike by a Tomahawk cruise missile.

The Pentagon released photos Tuesday of the destruction the U.S.-led air strikes visited on ISIS’ stronghold in the occupied Syrian city of Raqqa.

President Obama called the overnight aerial assaults, a three-wave attack supported by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a “powerful message to the world.”

“The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone,” Obama said before leaving Washington for the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “We’re going to do what’s necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group, for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world.”

Obama is expected to talk about the ISIS threat in his address Wednesday to the UN.
Rear Adm. John Kirby warned ISIS that this was just a taste of the hell to come.
“I can tell you that last night’s strikes were only the beginning,” said Kirby, who called the raids “very successful.”

In the wake of the attacks, Secretary of State Kerry announced that Turkey — a big player in the war-torn region — is joining the coalition against ISIS and “will be very engaged on the front lines of this effort.”
That was confirmed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
ISIS responded to the air strikes with more defiance.

Terror mouthpiece Muhammad al-Adnani tried to rally his fighters with a speech in which he called on Muslims to attack civilians in coalition countries, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.
Earlier, ISIS posted a new video in which their coerced spokesman, British hostage John Cantlie, warned the U.S. and its allies that they were embarking on “Gulf War III.”

“Not since Vietnam have we witnessed such a potential mess in the making,” he was heard saying.

Cantlie was captured in August 2013 with American journalist James Foley, whose beheading by an ISIS butcher was posted online last month.
Coalition forces also launched air strikes against the Al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group, which operates in the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib. Some 30 fighters were killed along with eight civilians, officials said.
The group was targeted because it was plotting a fresh wave of terrorist attacks and was actively recruiting jihadists who hold passports from Western nations, administration officials said.