The United States and several Arab nations carried out airstrikes
against ISIS in Syria early Tuesday, intensifying the campaign against
the Islamic militant group.
Tomahawk missiles launched from the sea began the strikes against the Sunni Muslim extremists, followed by bombers and fighters.
Here are answers to key questions about the new phase in the conflict with ISIS:
Which areas were hit?
The bombing has focused
on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, a city in northern Syria. ISIS has had
control of Raqqa for more than a year, imposing its brutal
interpretation of Islamic law on the city's residents.
The extremists have made
the city, which sits on the banks of the Euphrates River, the de facto
capital of their self-declared "Islamic State" that stretches across
large areas of Syria and Iraq.
ISIS targets around other Syrian cities -- Deir Ezzor, Al Hasakah and Abu Kamal -- were also hit in the strikes.
Obama: This is not America's fight alone
Pentagon details anti-ISIS airstrikes
What is the Khorasan Group?
What was struck?
The attacks damaged
multiple ISIS targets, the U.S. military said, including training
compounds, headquarters, storage facilities, supply trucks and armed
vehicles.
"Usually the first part
of any air campaign are strategic targets -- fixed locations, big
buildings, things that you don't need a guy on the ground to
laser-designate," said retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, an Air Force
veteran intelligence officer and CNN military analyst.
The Pentagon also said ISIS fighters were hit in the strikes but didn't specify how many.
In Raqqa, a building in
the governor's compound, a post office and a recruitment center were
among the sites struck, activists reported.
Why is Raqqa a focus of the initial strikes?
The city is known as a
place where ISIS houses training centers, weapons depots and
accommodations for fighters. During the Syrian conflict, the group has
also seized military bases from the Syrian regime near the city and in
the wider Raqqa province.
The targets hit by the
airstrikes are intended to hurt ISIS' ability to command and control,
resupply and train, a senior U.S. military official told CNN's Jim
Sciutto.
ISIS has made Raqqa the
flagship for its model of governance, providing food, fuel and security
to people struggling to survive after years of civil war. But it also
imposed hardline Islamist law there and metes out harsh punishment to
those who don't follow orders. Locals started
calling the city Tora Bora last year, saying it felt as if the Taliban of Afghanistan had taken over.
Who is taking part in the airstrikes?
All the foreign partners
participating in the strikes with the United States are Arab countries:
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar.
"It's a remarkable
diplomatic achievement," said CNN Political Commentator Peter Beinhart.
"I don't think it was expected that there would be this much Arab
support."
How long will the attacks go on?
For a while.
The first wave of strikes was expected to last into the early hours of Tuesday morning in Syria, CNN's Sciutto reported.
Strikes target ISIS safe havens in Syria
'There are five Arab nations involved'
Syrians cross into Turkey to flee ISIS
Don Lemon : 'Are we at war again?'
It is aimed at striking a
strong initial blow, a senior U.S. official told CNN. The aerial
campaign on ISIS targets in Syria is expected to continue beyond
Tuesday.
Counterterrorism expert Philip Mudd said Tuesday's attacks were "just the start."
"This is not a
definitive blow," said Mudd, who previously worked for the CIA. "When
this gets interesting to me as a former practitioner is six months down
the road, when a second-tier ISIS commander starts to create some sort
of cell to recruit foreigners from Europe or the United States or Canada
into Syria, do we still have the will and capability, and the
intelligence, to locate that person, or that group of people, and put
lead on the target?"
What happens next?
U.S. military officials will be trying to assess the effectiveness of the first night of bombing.
Some analysts have
suggested that ISIS had already started dispersing its assets and
fighters after President Barack Obama's warning of action in Syria
earlier this month.
The response of ISIS fighters to the initial strikes may give military officials clues on what to target next.
"The follow-up to some
of these strikes is -- what are their actions now?" said retired Lt.
Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN military analyst. "There is intelligence that
flows from the initial strike," he said.
The Arab governments involved in the strikes could also face discontent among their own people.
"Parts of the population do not agree with Sunni going against Sunni," Hertling said.
The United States is also
pushing for a binding resolution at the U.N. General Assembly this week that aims to prevent and track the travel of foreign fighters to Syria.
How has ISIS reacted?
There was no immediate confirmed comment from the militant group on the strikes.
ISIS' official Bayan
Radio tweeted a photo that it claimed showed damage to a communications
tower in Raqqa. CNN wasn't immediately able to independently verify the
image.
The militant group has increased security patrols in Raqqa, an opposition activist told CNN.
Countries taking part in airstrikes
ISIS has previously
linked the U.S. campaign of airstrikes in Iraq to its decision to
execute three of its Western hostages -- two Americans and one Briton.
It also recently
called for attacks against the United States and its allies.
How have Syrian opposition groups reacted?
Hadi al Bahra, the President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, welcomed the strikes.
"Tonight, the
international community has joined our fight against ISIS in Syria," he
said in a statement. "We have called for airstrikes such as those that
commenced tonight with a heavy heart and deep concern, as these strikes
begin in our own homeland. We insist that utmost care is taken to avoid
civilian casualties."
Did the U.S. consult with the Syrian government beforehand?
The regime of President
Bashar al-Assad said it was given a heads-up about the attacks through
its ambassador to the United Nations in New York.
A senior U.S. State
Department official confirmed that the U.S. notified the Syrian regime
of the planned action, but the official said that the Obama
administration didn't seek the regime's permission or coordinate with
it.
Beinhart said al-Assad's
government may end up as "the real winner" from the airstrikes on ISIS,
since the moderate U.S.-backed rebels aren't "in a position to take
this territory that we are pulverizing from the air."
Did Obama have the authority to begin the attacks?
The White House argues
it doesn't need any new authority; that it's using an existing
authorization to combat al Qaeda to expand its airstrike campaign.
But some lawmakers say it's Congress' role, not the President's, to declare war.
They say they were open
to holding a vote on military action against ISIS -- but not until after
the midterm elections in November.
"It was one thing to
attack in Iraq, where you had a government that wanted us to," Beinhart
said. "But Congress did not vote for U.S. airstrikes in Syria and we
don't have a government requesting us to do that."
What are U.S. lawmakers saying?
When the strikes began,
Congress had already left town to campaign for the midterm elections,
and most of the reaction came from those who had pressed the
administration to act sooner. Privately, many of them conceded they were
relieved not to have to take a vote on a controversial issue just weeks
before voters went to the polls in November.
Patroranking - Happy - Day - ngtrend The
24-year-old Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie, known by his stage name
Patoranking, who is a reggae-dancehall singer and songwriter has always
been known with having a message to pass across in all of his songs.
French hostage Herve Gourdel was abducted and beheaded, a killing
shown on video, French President Francois Hollande told the United
Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
Sierra Leone's government has declared a three-day nationwide lockdown put in place to help stop the spread of 
The man who has gone over the 
Japanese police have arrested a man after the dismembered body of a
missing six-year-old girl was found in several plastic bags near her
home in Kobe City.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment