This map highlights the countries of Iraq and Syria in yellow. Areas under ISIS control are marked in red, along with ISIS controlled cities.
The United States launched its first wave of bombing attacks over Syria early Tuesday (local time) against an expected 20 to 25 Islamic State targets, U.S. officials said.
The operation, which is expected to last just several hours, will largely be conducted by U.S. warplanes planes launched from naval destroyers positioned in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Planes from five Arab countries also participated in the strikes.
The first explosions came from Tomahawk missiles and were heard hitting targets in northern Syria. ISIS targets were expected to include command and control centers, training camps and weapons depots. The strikes were concentrated around the city of Raqqa, the militants’ main stronghold close to the border with Iraq.
“US military and partner nation forces have begun striking Isil targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles,” said Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
U.S. President Obama on September 10 authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria as part of a campaign to root out the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” Obama said. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq.”
Until Tuesday, U.S. airstrikes have been limited to specific missions in northern Iraq. However, after six weeks of American airstrikes, Iraqi forces haven’t even budged the Sunni terror army from their hold on more than a quarter of the country, in large part because many critical Sunni tribes remain on the sidelines and the U.S. refuses to send what experts agree are necessary ground troops.
“Although the airstrikes appear to have stopped the extremists’ march toward Baghdad, the Islamic State is still dealing humiliating blows to the Iraq government forces,” The New York Times also reported Monday. “On Monday, the government acknowledged that it had lost control of the small, northern town of Sichar and lost contact with several hundred of its soldiers who had been trapped for several days at a camp north of the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja, in Anbar Province.”
Meanwhile, speaking at the Maverick PAC Conference in Washington D.C., former head of the Marine Corps General James Conway was one of the latest top military minds to say publicly Obama’s plan is fundamentally insufficient.
“I don’t think the president’s plan has a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding,” retired Marine General James Conway, who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration.
Responding to coalition’s planned military campaign, ISIS released a new statement that called for the instant execution of any “non-believing” citizen of any country involved in the military intervention, “especially the spiteful and filthy French.”
French warplanes — or at least, a warplane — have been conducting airstrikes in Northern Iraq for the past several days.
“It is you who started the transgression against us, and thus you deserve blame and you will pay a great price,” the statement said. “You will pay the price as you walk on your streets, turning right and left, fearing the Muslims.”
