U.S. and Allies begin attacking ISIS in Syria

The U.S. bombed Islamic militants in Syria for the first time on Monday, expanding its campaign against the Islamic State, the Pentagon said.

Fighter jets and guided missiles pounded the city of Raqqa, in northern Syria, which has become the capital of the Sunni Islamist group responsible for the videotaped beheading of two American journalists and for countless other atrocities.

The open-ended attacks, made from the air and from warships at sea, were aided by Arab allies, according to reports. They focused on fixed targets, like buildings and arms depots.

The strikes represented the first time the U.S. military has attacked the Islamic State beyond lands it occupies in Iraq, signaling a potential turning point in the offensive.

 

“U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against (Islamic State) terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk land attack missiles,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

“Given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide additional details at this time,” he added.

Kirby did not say which Arab nations were participating in the bombings, but CNN and multiple other outlets identified four countries — Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

President Obama has vowed to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic terrorist group, which has taken over a large swath of northeastern Syria amid that country’s ongoing civil war and in June launched a an invasion of parts of north and west Iraq. Also known by the acronym ISIS, for Islamic State in Syria, the bloodthirsty jihadist group wants to establish an Islamic caliphate and slaughter all nonbelievers.

The U.S. first launched air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq on Aug. 8, to aid Iraqi and Kurdish forces, which had been on their heels against the well-armed militants. The strikes have largely stemmed Islamic State’s rapid advances in Iraq.

In a televised address two weeks ago, Obama announced that he had authorized the expansion of the military operation against ISIS.

As the bloody civil war raged in Syria over the past three years, Obama had been reluctant to intervene in the conflict and rejected calls to conduct air strikes against the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after evidence linked it to sarin gas attacks against rebels and civilians more than a year ago.

But ISIS exploited the confused state of the Syrian opposition to gain territory in Syria and the strength needed to invade Iraq in numbers. Its threat to Iraq’s sovereignty has changed Obama’s calculus.

The Assad regime has recently warned the U.S. against attacking its Islamic State opponents in Syria without consultation. Damascus said that Washington informed Syria’s UN envoy before bombing the country.