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Monday, September 22, 2014

US, Arab Partners Launch Air Attack Against ISIS Targets in Syria

Arleigh-Burke destroyer fires Tomahawk
US jets have struck jihadist positions in northern Iraq, in what the ...
[F-22 Rapture being used]


Tonight air attack operations began over Syria against selected ISIS targets. A reported coalition of aircraft from the United States, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia flew air strikes. We have reengaged by way of Syria and of course there will be some questions of legality since there is no declared war. We will have to wait and see about the battle damage assessments on the strikes to gauge their effectiveness. I applaud the Obama administration in getting five Sunni majority countries to enjoin this battle -- let's hope they display staying power because air will not be sufficient in and of itself.
It's quite disconcerting that Turkey is not a part of this coalition -- as well as no European nations. God bless the pilots and let us pray that we can defeat ISIS with impunity and in detail in the shortest amount of time.


(CNSNews.com) – The United States, reportedly joined by several Arab states, launched air and missile attacks against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) targets inside Syria for the first time on Monday night.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby in a brief statement confirmed that the U.S. and “partner nations” were using a mix of fighter planes, bombers and Tomahawk land attack missiles in the assault.
U.S. officials were quoted as saying the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain joined the air effort while a fifth Arab country, Qatar, was also said to be involved in some capacity.

Also reportedly involved in the engagement were the guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, in the Red Sea; and the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, part of the USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group, in the Persian Gulf.
The attack began before dawn Tuesday local time. ISIS has its stronghold in the north-eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, which it portrays as the capital of the “caliphate” it proclaimed in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq last June.
Since August 8 the U.S. military has carried out a total of 190 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq, according to U.S. Central Command, but this is the first time the terrorist group is being bombed across the border in Syria.
President Obama first signaled his intention to widen the campaign against ISIS to Syria in an address to the nation on September 10, when he said, “I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”

While the strikes in Iraq came at the urging of the authorities in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region, attacks inside Syria are controversial because the Assad regime, as far as is known, has not given the U.S. or any other outside country permission to carry them out.
On the contrary Syria, and its allies Russia and Iran, have insisted repeatedly that any action against ISIS must be carried out in line with the U.N. Charter and international law concerning sovereignty. The Obama administration has maintained that it will not coordinate any military action in Syria with the regime in Damascus, whose legitimacy it does not recognize.

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