Spiralling conflict: US, Arab allies target IS, Khorasan group in Syria

Some 120 militants killed in joint operation against IS extremists

DAMASCUS:

The United States and its Arab allies unleashed deadly bomb and missile strikes in Syria on Tuesday, killing 120 members of IS and al Qaeda’s Khorasan group militants.

Washington also claimed the raids had partly targeted extremists plotting an “imminent attack” against the West.

Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the operation, which involved fighter jets, bombers, drones and Tomahawk missiles fired from US warships.

The Americans pounded Khorasan targets in Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles to counter the mounting threat posed by the group, said Lieutenant General William Mayville, director of operations for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Intelligence reports indicated that the group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against western targets and potentially the US homeland,” Mayville told reporters.

The strikes against the Khorasan militants early Tuesday were separate from a wave of bombing raids led by the United States and joined by several Arab countries that targeted the Islamic State group.

Earlier, the Pentagon had said that US air strikes killed Khorasan members hatching plots against Western targets.

US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, had announced that American forces carried out eight air strikes against Khorasan group targets west of Aleppo.

Mayville said more than 40 Tomahawk missiles were launched from naval ships in the Gulf and the Red Sea, and that “the majority of the Tomahawk strikes were against Khorasan.”

The Khorasan group was not focused on battling the Syrian regime or aiding the Syrian people but instead is “establishing roots in Syria in order to advance attacks against the West and the homeland,” he said.

Speaking of the broader air campaign that included Arab states, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said “our initial indication is that these strikes were very successful.”

And he signaled that more bombing raids in Syria were to come.

“I can tell you that last night’s strikes were only the beginning,” Kirby said.

President Barack Obama ordered the bombing raids in Syria last Thursday, a day after conferring with commanders at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the White House said.

The US military was “unaware of any civilian casualties” from the strikes and the air attack was planned to minimize the risk to civilians in the area, Mayville said.

The general acknowledged there was evidence IS fighters were already dispersing and moving towards population centers to hide from the sights of US attack aircraft.

But he said there was no need at the moment to bring in tactical air controllers on the ground to direct bombing raids to avoid civilian casualties.

The Damascus regime views the IS group as an adversary, and the White House said President Bashar al Assad’s government was told in advance about the plan to attack -- but in general terms.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, passed the word to her Syrian counterpart, said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser.

But he and other officials insisted the air strikes were not coordinated in any way with Assad’s army.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2014.