The United States and its “partners” early morning today launched bombing raids against Islamic State militants in Syria, where tens of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring Turkey as the jihadists advanced on a key border town in Syrian Kurdish territory.
US media reported five Arab states took part in the air raids as part of a new international coalition formed to attack the Islamic State group, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and committed atrocities including beheadings and crucifixions.
The US-led air assault in Syria marked a turning point in the war against the IS group, and came despite a threat by an IS-linked Algerian group to kill a French hostage if Paris failed to halt its aerial campaign against the IS in Iraq.
A Pentagon spokesman said the US military and unnamed “partner nation forces” have unleashed air strikes against the jihadists using fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles.
