WASHINGTON: The US military stands ready to launch a direct military action against the Islamic State militants in Syria, says a senior US defence official.

According to ABC News, the official said that “decisions about when to conduct these actions will be made at a prudent time”.

The United States is already conducting air strikes at IS targets in Iraq and US defence officials say that they will soon launch similar actions inside Syria. President Barack Obama, however, has rejected the possibility of a ground offensive. But it is not yet clear if the United States will encourage Arab members of a new anti-militant coalition to use their ground troops for subduing militants inside Syria.

The ultimate US goal is to strengthen moderate Syrian opposition fighters to take on the militants. President Obama has ruled out any cooperation with the Syrian government, calling it a part of the problem, not solution.

In Washington, a Pentagon official said the United States was executing a comprehensive strategy for defeating the terrorists who had killed hundreds of civilians, including two US journalists beheaded, since Aug 19.

The group — also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – was formed to combat the Syrian government but later vowed to create an international Islamic state and started attacking Western targets as well.

At a Pentagon news briefing, Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said that 150 of the 475 new US military advisers President Obama was sending to Iraq, would embed with Iraqi security forces at the brigade level and above. They will not be involved in frontline c Brebes 3 ombat situations.

Another 125 personnel will join ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) teams that support US air strikes in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. They will work from a base in Erbil used for conducting strikes at IS militants.

An additional 200 personnel, including those already deployed in Iraq, will augment US operations headquarters in Baghdad and Erbil.

President Obama announced the new deployment in a nationally televised address on Sept. 10 and the next day the US and key Arab nations agreed to launch a coordinated military campaign against the militants.

Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council signed this pact with the US along with Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon.

They agreed to join any military campaign the United States launches against the militants and pledged not to allow the flow of foreign fighters into Syria through their territories. They also agreed to work together to counter financing of IS and other violent extremists and to “repudiate their hateful ideology”.

But Turkey, which has borders with both Iraq and Syria, did not join this coalition. And on Friday, officials in Ankara told journalists that they would not allow this US-led coalition to use Turkish air bases for attacking IS targets.

They also said that Turkey would not participate in combat operations but it would provide humanitarian aid to the countries involved.

Some analysts in the United States blame Turkey for indirectly encouraging the formation of IS by supporting Islamist opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

They also claim that Turkey has been reluctant to attack IS terrorists. Officials in Ankara, however, say their reluctance is linked to the presence of a large number of Turkish hostages in IS bases.

But news reports from Ankara say that Turkey can open Incirlik air base in the south for logistical and humanitarian operations in any US-led operation but not for air strikes.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2014