US 'Shoulder to Shoulder' with Arab Allies in Syria Strikes

posted on: Sep 24, 2014

US President Barack Obama says he will continue to “take the fight to” the Islamic State as member states suggest there will be no legal backlash to air strikes in Syria and Iraq
President Barack Obama has declared a new phase in the military campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State (Isil) after Washington and a coalition of Arab allies launched a major new air offensive against the group’s strongholds in Syria.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar were all named as taking part in the strikes, the first time that Arab allies have joined a US military action since the First Gulf War in 1991.

“America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security,” Mr Obama said.

The fresh wave of attacks came on the eve the United Nations General Assembly where Mr Obama arrived on Tuesday and were seen as a powerful statement of the administration’s efforts to build a regional coalition to combat the Isil threat.

“The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone,” Mr Obama added.

“Above all, the people and governments in the Middle East are rejecting Isil and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.”

While the Pentagon said that early assessment showed the strikes had been successful in degrading Isil capabilities to launch attacks into Iraq, Mr Obama warned the American public that a long and difficult road to victory still lay ahead.

“The overall effort will take time. There will be challenges ahead. But we’re going to do what’s necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group, for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world,” he said.

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, indicated that Mr Obama would not face the sort of challenges about the legality of the strikes in Syria that preceded the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

While noting that all measures taken to combat the terrorist groups should be taken in accordance with the charter of the UN and international law, he also observed that the US had informed the Syrians of their intention in advance.

“I also note that strikes took place in areas no longer under effective control of that government,” he said. “I think it’s undeniable that these extremist groups pose an immediate threat to international peace and security.”

Samantha Power, Mr Obama’s ambassador at the UN, laid out the American legal justification for the strikes in a letter sent to the secretary-general of the world body.

She said the Syrian regime had failed to confront Isil safe havens from which the terror group was staging attacks on Iraq, while the Khorasan cell posed a threat to the US and its allies.

The strikes were needed to eliminate a threat to Iraq, the United States and its allies, she wrote, as she cited Article 51 of the UN charter, which covers an individual or collective right to self-defence against armed attack.

She asked Mr Ban to circulate the letter to the other 14 members of the Security Council as they must all be informed immediately of any action that us taken as self-defence, under the terms of Article 51.

Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s ambassador to the UN, told Reuters that Miss Power informed him in person of the planned strikes on Syrian territory on Monday just hours before the blitz was launched.

Western officials said that although some Russian diplomats were privately describing the strikes in Syria as lacking a “legal context”, they did not expect them to try to raise a challenge at the UN.

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Even Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, reacted cautiously, neither condemning nor endorsing the military action. “The bombardment must have a certain framework that is needed to take place in a third country,” he said.

Mr Obama will further justify the air strikes, explain US strategy and urge more nations to join the anti-Isil alliance in an address to fellow world leaders this afternoon.

After weeks when America’s Arab allies had provided only private assurances they would participate in the fight against Isil, Tuesday saw the first public acknowledgements of their support which included deploying both fighter and bomber aircraft over Syria.

Saudi Arabia, which has long feared a backlash from its own populations if it openly supported US military action, took the highly unusual step in confirming it had “participated in military operations”.

Qatar, which had been accused of funding Islamist fighters in Syria was now “fully a part of this coalition” and committed to flying further missions, Obama administration officials said.

Turkey, which has so far refused to allow US missions to fly from its bases, also signaled yesterday that it was actively considering supporting the operation, with President Tayyip Erdogan saying in New York that Turkey would give “necessary support” which could include “military or logistics”.

The Pentagon declined to specify precise contributions from Arab nations, but said the attacks on Isil command and control infrastructure had come in three waves, beginning with Tomahawk cruise missiles, but followed by strikes from warplanes, including by Arab forces.

Gulf sources said the Arab commitment included four F-16 fighters from UAE, four Saudi Arabian F-15s, four Jordanian F-16s, two F-16s from Bahrain and Mirage jets from Qatar that provided fighter escorts but did not drop bombs.

The US has repeatedly insisted it would not coordinate its strikes against Isil with the Assad regime but conceded that it had given Damascus a broad warning that attacks were coming.

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, informed her Syrian counterpart of American intentions to strike and warned the Assad regime not to interfere.

“We warned Syria not to engage US aircraft. We did not request the regime’s permission. We did not coordinate our actions with the Syrian government.

We did not provide advance notification to the Syrians at a military level, or give any indication of our timing on specific targets,” said a State Department spokeswoman.

Telegraph,
Peter Foster,
Raf Sanchez,
Philip Sherwell