Boston Herald September 23, 2014
U.S. begins pounding ISIS targets in Syria
By O'Ryan Johnson
America's war on Islamic State terrorists moved into Syria last night, hitting hard with coordinated attacks by fighter jets, bombers and ship-based missiles zeroed in on the extremists.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a tweeted statement, "US military & partner nation forces have begun striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles."
The United States and its allies already had been attacking targets in terrorist-controlled parts of Iraq for several weeks. Kirby said the decision to strike across the border into Syria was made early yesterday by the military. Because the military operation is ongoing, he said, no details can be provided yet.
The strikes are part of the expanded military campaign that President Obama authorized nearly two weeks ago in order to disrupt and destroy the Islamic State terrorists, who have slaughtered thousands of people, rounded up women as sex slaves, beheaded three Westerners — including American journalists James Foley of New Hampshire and Steven Sotloff of Florida — and captured a large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq.
One expert said the new attacks signal the onset in earnest of a long campaign to curtail the terrorist threat.
"It's about time," said John Pike, CEO of GlobalSecurity.org. "What did the Islamic State say today? 'Kill infidels anywhere you can find them.' If we do not take the war to them they will bring it to us. ... This is just the way it's going to be for a while. Mr. Obama has already said it will not be over when he leaves office."
U.S. officials said the airstrikes began around 8:30 p.m. EDT, and were conducted by the U.S., Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The first wave of strikes finished about 90 minutes later, but the operation was expected to continue for several more hours, according to one U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly by name about an ongoing mission.
Some of the airstrikes were against Islamic State group headquarters in Raqqa in eastern Syria. Military officials have said the U.S. would target the group's command and control centers, re-supply facilities, training camps and other key logistical sites.
Syrian activists reported several airstrikes on militant targets in Raqqa. One Raqqa-based activist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the airstrikes lit the night sky over the city, and reported a power cut that lasted for two hours.
An anti-militant media collective called "Raqqa is being silently slaughtered" said among the targets were Islamic State buildings used as the group's headquarters, and the Brigade 93, a Syrian army base that the militants recently seized. Other airstrikes targeted the town of Tabqa and Tel Abyad in Raqqa province, it said. Their claims could not be independently verified.
"We will be prepared to strike ISIL targets in Syria that degrade ISIL's capabilities," Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators last week, using one of the acronyms for the Islamic State group. "This won't look like a shock-and-awe campaign, because that's simply not how ISIL is organized, but it will be a persistent and sustainable campaign."
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the plan "includes targeted actions against ISIL safe havens in Syria, including its command and control logistics capabilities and infrastructure." He said he and Dempsey approved the plan.
The U.S. has also been increasing its surveillance flights over Syria, getting better intelligence on potential targets and terrorist movements. None of yesterday's airstrikes were from drones.
Military leaders have said about two-thirds of the estimated 31,000 Islamic State militants are in Syria.
The chief spokesman for the Islamic State yesterday called on jihadi sympathizers worldwide to act on their own to attack Western civilian and military targets in retaliation for the U.S.-led coalition's aerial attacks in Iraq.
In a rambling audiotape diatribe, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani vowed the group will kill Western men and enslave their women even as he accused the news media of inaccurately portraying the group as violent.
"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way, however it may be," al-Adnani said.
A splinter group from al-Qaeda's North African branch kidnapped a French citizen and said yesterday it would kill him unless France halts its airstrikes in Iraq.
A masked member of a group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, said it was answering al-Adnani's call to attack Americans and Europeans. The French Foreign Ministry identified the hostage as Herve Gourdel, 55.
Meanwhile, Islamic State terrorists disguised in Iraqi army uniforms and driving stolen Humvees killed at least 40 Iraqi soldiers and captured 68 others in Iraq's western Anbar province, breaking through a deteriorating Iraqi military offensive in an area where the United States recently broadened its airstrike campaign.
Late yesterday, a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding at least 28 others. Just north of Baghdad, gunmen broke into the house of an anti-terrorist Sunni fighter, killing his two sons and a daughter, the police said. The man and his wife were wounded. He was a member of Sahwa, a Sunni militia that joined U.S. troops in the fight against Iraq's al-Qaeda branch at the height of Iraq's insurgency in 2007 and 2008.
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