The United States and Arab allies launched strikes from the air and sea against Islamic State militants in Syria today, opening a new front in the battle against the brutal jihadist group.
The US Central Command said in a statement that Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had joined Washington in carrying out the strikes.
"Using a mix of fighter, bombers, remotely piloted aircraft and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles" the coalition conducted 14 strikes against IS targets in Syria, it said.
The strikes "destroyed or damaged" multiple targets in the jihadists' northern stronghold and near the border with Iraq including IS fighter positions, training compounds, command centres and armed vehicles.
The US-led air assault in Syria marked a turning point in the war against the IS group, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic "caliphate".
Washington had been reluctant to intervene in Syria's raging civil war, but was jolted into action as the jihadists captured more territory and committed widespread atrocities, including the on-camera beheadings of three Western hostages.
Syria's opposition had pleaded for the strikes, especially after a jihadist assault on a strategic Kurdish town in northern Syria over the last week sent tens of thousands of terrified residents fleeing across the border to Turkey.
IS militants have warned the US-led campaign would be met with a harsh response and an IS-linked Algerian group yesterday threatened to kill a French hostage within 24 hours if Paris did not end its participation in air strikes in Iraq.
Washington said the strikes from the sea were carried put from US warships operating in the Red Sea and the Gulf and that 47 Tomahawks were fired.
Fighter jets, bombers and remotely controlled aircraft were used for the air strikes, which the five Arab nations "participated in or supported".
"All aircraft safely exited the strike areas," it said, adding that four air strikes were also conducted yesterday in neighbouring Iraq, bringing the total number of US raids in that country to 194.
It said eight strikes were also carried out on a group of "seasoned Al-Qaeda" veterans west of Syria's second city Aleppo to disrupt an "imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests".
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani told AFP the country's warplanes had taken part in strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq as "part of our efforts to defeat terrorism in its strongholds".
