WASHINGTON: The United States and its Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing scores of Islamic State (IS) fighters and members of a separate Al Qaeda-linked group, opening a new front against militants by joining Syria’s three-year-old civil war.

In a remarkable sign of shifting Middle East alliances, the attacks encountered no objection from President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian government, which said Washington had notified it in advance.

Warplanes and ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles struck dozens of targets including fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage sites, a finance centre, trucks and armed vehicles, CENTCOM said.

“I can tell you that last night’s strikes were only the beginning,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, a US Defence Department spokesman, told reporters. The overnight attacks had been “very successful”, he said, but gave few details and would not discuss casualties.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said at least 70 IS fighters were killed in strikes that hit at least 50 targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Hasakah.

It said at least 50 fighters and eight civilians were killed in strikes targeting Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, in northern Aleppo and Idlib provinces.—Reuters

Anwar Iqbal adds: President Barack Obama informed Congress on Tuesday that the United States had started a series of air strikes on Al Qaeda factions in Syria, particularly the group known as Al Khorasan.

US officials say that most Al Khorasan fighters were foreigners and came from the Taliban-controlled areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal region.

In a brief address from the White House, President Obama said that five Middle East countries also participated in attacks in Syria: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. Mr Obama also met the leaders and senior officials from these five countries.

In separate letters to the House Speaker and president of the US Senate, Mr Obama said the strikes were “necessary to defend the United States and our partners and allies against the threat posed by these elements”.

Also on Tuesday, the White House National Security Council released a statement from the president of the Syrian opposition coalition Hadi Al-Bahra, saying that since the air strikes alone could not defeat the militants, the US and its allies would continue to train his forces.

The statement reinforces President Obama’s determination to use opposition forces for defeating the extremists, instead of coordinating the air strikes with the Syrian government, which had offered to cooperate with the United States and its allies. The United States had rejected the offer.

In his brief address, President Obama told his nation that US strikes were aimed at eliminating potential terrorist bases in Syria. He also vowed to launch more strikes if needed.

“We will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people.” Mr Obama said before leaving for New York City for three days of meetings at the United Nations, where military action in both Iraq and Syria will be prominent topics.

“The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone,” Mr Obama said. The Arab world and the West faced terrorist threats from the Islamic State and other organisations, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014