Obama Orders US Airstrikes in Syria Against Islamic State
Reuters reports that President Barack Obama “told Americans on Wednesday he had authorized U.S. airstrikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in a broad escalation of a campaign” against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“Obama’s decision to launch attacks inside Syria, which is embroiled in a three-year civil war, marked a turnabout for the president, who shied away a year ago from airstrikes to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons against his own people,” the wire says.
In a widely 13-minute White House speech, Obama said he would hunt down ISIS “wherever they are” in order to degrade and then ultimately destroy the Sunni militant group. “That means I will not hesitate to take action against [ISIS] in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the Obama administration also said Wednesday that it needed no new approval from Congress to launch the strikes on Syria “because the campaign is covered by the existing authorization to use military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – that is, al-Qaida.”
Until now, the paper says, the administration had only cited only “the president’s constitutional powers as commander in chief” as the basis for recent airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq.
Reuters also reports that the Western-backed National Coalition opposition said on Thursday that it was ready to work with the U.S. against ISIS, adding that it had “long called for this action” and had warned about the dangers of ISIS. The Syrian National Council called for its Free Syrian Army (FSA) to receive enough Western support to form a “reliable and well-equipped force.”
“We urge the U.S. Congress to approve the president’s policy as soon as possible, and to allow the training and equipping of Free Syrian Army,” coalition president Hadi al-Bahra said in a written statement. The FSA has long struggled to gain support among Syrians on the ground.
Watchdog Group Says Chlorine Gas Used in Syrian Villages
CNN reports that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors have determined “with a high degree of confidence” that chlorine gas was used this year in northern Syria.
A fact-finding mission “found ‘compelling confirmation’ that a toxic chemical was used ‘systematically and repeatedly,’ the group said in a statement on Wednesday. Information gathered led the mission ‘to conclude with a high degree of confidence that chlorine, either pure or in mixture, is the toxic chemical in question.’
“The mission’s task does not include determining who was responsible for using chemical weapons. It was investigating claims that the Syrian regime used chlorine gas in the villages of Talmanes, al-Tamanah and Kafr Zita, the OPCW said.”