Islamic State: United States, partner nations begin air strikes in Syria, the Pentagon says

Updated

The US says its warplanes have launched attacks inside Syria, striking Islamic State (IS) targets and a safe haven where "seasoned Al Qaeda veterans" were thought to be plotting an "imminent attack" on the West.

The strikes were carried out by the US and "partner nations", opening up a new front in the fight against IS militants who have overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq.

In a statement, the US Central Command said the raids involving fighter jets, bombers and 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from warships in the Red Sea and the North Arabian Gulf, conducting 14 strikes against IS targets.

The strikes "destroyed or damaged" multiple IS targets including "fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance centre, supply trucks and armed vehicles", the statement said.

The raids targeted the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa and other centres in Syria's northeast.

Raqqa, in Syria's north, has been considered a stronghold for Islamic State and other militant groups since the insurgents seized control of much of the city in March 2013.

The US said its action was supported Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, although their exact role was unclear.

However, a spokesman for the Jordanian government its warplanes joined in the US-led strikes "which are part of our efforts to defeat terrorism in its strongholds".

The US also confirmed forces conducted eight strikes west of Aleppo, in Syria's northwest, to disrupt an "imminent attack" being devised by members of the Khorasan Group of Al Qaeda veterans.

"These strikes were undertaken only by US assets," the statement said.

Analysis: Matt Brown Middle East correspondent Matt Brown told PM the bombings mean the US is now a player in Syria's civil war:



To be bombing at least one of the major players involved in that war raises very serious questions about US strategy for Syria going forward, and the much broader question of the future of [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad.



The Islamic State organisation effectively began in Iraq after the beginning of the American invasion in 2003 and it's grown and changed, metastasised over time, and moved into Syria.



And in the vacuum that's been created by the civil war ... the Islamic State has grown and gathered strength and used the resources that it can muster in Syria, including oil revenues, to bolster its operations.



The US has called for Bashar al-Assad to go and has said that it would no coordinate these strikes with the Syrian government.



So it's possible that the Syrian government could now claim that it's been legitimated, that its fight and its depiction of the civil war as a war against terrorism has been validated by these American strikes.



The targets that we're hearing about were bases uses by Islamic State militants and supply lines.



Raqqa is important because it's essentially the capital of their self-proclaimed caliphate. They have taken over an important Syrian government military base there, and it's on the Euphrates River.



It gives them important supply lines down into Iraq but also up further into the northwest of Syria and up towards the Turkish border.



Listen to the interview here. To be bombing at least one of the major players involved in that war raises very serious questions about US strategy for Syria going forward, and the much broader question of the future of [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad.The Islamic State organisation effectively began in Iraq after the beginning of the American invasion in 2003 and it's grown and changed, metastasised over time, and moved into Syria.And in the vacuum that's been created by the civil war ... the Islamic State has grown and gathered strength and used the resources that it can muster in Syria, including oil revenues, to bolster its operations.The US has called for Bashar al-Assad to go and has said that it would no coordinate these strikes with the Syrian government.So it's possible that the Syrian government could now claim that it's been legitimated, that its fight and its depiction of the civil war as a war against terrorism has been validated by these American strikes.The targets that we're hearing about were bases uses by Islamic State militants and supply lines.Raqqa is important because it's essentially the capital of their self-proclaimed caliphate. They have taken over an important Syrian government military base there, and it's on the Euphrates River.It gives them important supply lines down into Iraq but also up further into the northwest of Syria and up towards the Turkish border.

Reports said the attacking aircraft included F-22 Raptors - the first time the stealth fighter jets had been used in combat.

Videos posted to social media, which have not been verified, showed huge explosions lighting up the night sky.

There were also claims that what appeared to be a US drone had crashed after hitting a communications tower in Raqqa.

US Rear Admiral John Kirby initially confirmed the air strikes, tweeting that: "US military & partner nation forces have begun striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles".

The decision to conduct the air strikes was undertaken earlier on Monday by the head of US Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, "under authorisation granted him by the commander in chief," Rear Admiral Kirby said.

Islamic State militants have recently made territorial gains in Syria, with at least 130,000 refugees fleeing as the Sunni militants closed in on a Kurdish town. US warplanes began hitting Islamic State targets in Iraq early last month.

In a televised statement, a Syrian government spokesman said it was told of the raids hours in advance, in a letter from the US, which was delivered by Iraq.

He said Syria is also working with Iraq to combat the terrorist threat.

"The Syrian Arab Republic announces once again that it stands with every effort to combat terrorism to combat terrorism irrespective of how it is, either from ISIS or Nusra Front," he said.

Syria's opposition National Coalition welcomed the air strikes against the militant group, but urged sustained pressure on president Bashar al-Assad's government.

Arab support a blow to IS: analyst

Some observers suggested the "partner nations" revealed the mission's military objectives were not the operation's sole purpose.

Lawrence Korb is a former US assistant secretary of defence and is now a senior advisor at the Washington military think-tank The Center for Defence Information.

As the attacks unfolded, he told Al Jazeera that the support from Arab states would itself deal a powerful blow against IS's legitimacy in the Middle East.

"[Their support will] undercut the narrative of ISIL that they are the ones chosen to establish, you know, an Islamic caliphate in that part of the world," he said.

"But the other point is Americans don't want to do it by themselves either.

"A lot of them say this is more their fight than ours, so the fact that they're with us, I think, helps get Obama support in the Congress and among the American people."

Hours after the US strikes, Israel's military said it had shot down a Syrian aircraft that flew into Israeli-controlled airspace, without disclosing the type of plane it intercepted.

"A Syrian aircraft infiltrated Israeli airspace," a military statement said.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defence system. The circumstances of the incident are being reviewed."

Israel Radio said the aircraft was a drone and was shot down over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where fighting from Syria's civil war has occasionally spilled over. Israeli Army Radio said it may have been a Syrian warplane.

Militants raping women, forcing girls into marriage: Kerry

Earlier, US secretary of state John Kerry said Islamic State militants were committing horrific abuses against women in both Syria and Iraq.

"ISIL has savagely raped and kidnapped countless Iraqi and Syrian women, it has forced young girls into marriages with ISIL fighters," he said.

"It has awarded young women to jihadists as a reward, has abducted Yazidi and Christian women and sold them off as slaves to jihadists.

"This is who ISIL is. And what we're doing here is saying who we are and what matters to us.

"I wish it were otherwise but barbarity is obviously not new to the world. Evil has been with us for a long time too, but we don't stop fighting it."

Map: US bombs Islamic State targets in Syria

ABC/Reuters

Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-forces, syrian-arab-republic, united-states

First posted