The United States and Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time today, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group, pursuing a campaign against militants into a war at the heart of the Middle East.
«I can confirm that US 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,» Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.
US Central Command said Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates participated in or supported the strikes against Islamic State targets around the eastern cities of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor, Hasakah and Albu Kamal.
Targets included «fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance center, supply trucks and armed vehicles,» it said.
Separately, US forces acting alone launched strikes in another area of Syria against an al Qaeda-linked group, the Nusra Front, to «disrupt imminent attack» against US and Western interests by «seasoned al Qaeda veterans», CentCom said.
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 targeting the Nusra Front in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib had killed at least 50 fighters and eight civilians. The Nusra Front is al Qaeda’s official Syrian wing and Islamic State’s rival. The Observatory said most of the fighters killed there were not Syrians.
The air attacks fulfill 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 mediaeval 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 told Reuters 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.
buenosairesherald.com