British parliament approves airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq (LIVE BLOG)

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Here's who's who in the fight against IS

This is from Agence France-Press:

More than 50 countries, including more than a dozen western ones, are taking part one way or another in a coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS) organization in Iraq and Syria, according to US officials. About 30 nations agreed in mid-September to provide Iraq with all necessary backing, including military means.

The United States has been helped by five Arab "partner nations" — Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — with airstrikes in Syria. Only the United States and France have carried out strikes in neighboring Iraq so far, though British lawmakers voted on Friday to approve joining the campaign.

UNITED STATES: At the core of the coalition, the United States began hitting IS positions in Iraq on August 8. After initially focusing on areas in northern and western Iraq, the strikes were expanded to targets near Baghdad. Almost 200 strikes have been carried out to date. On September 23, the US expanded the scope of its operations to Syria, with backing from Gulf governments, and has since hit oil installations controlled by the IS to degrade the group's key source of revenue. Some 1,600 US soldiers have nonetheless been deployed to Iraq to reinforce Iraqi forces with equipment, training and information. The US Congress has also approved a plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebel units.

FRANCE: French warplanes have conducted two rounds of air strikes in Iraq since the country joined the US air campaign on September 18. France has also delivered arms to Iraqi Kurdish fighters and provided humanitarian aid, in particular to the region around Arbil.

BRITAIN: Lawmakers in Britain's House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining US-led air strikes on IS targets in Iraq. London has already provided heavy machine guns and munitions to Kurdish fighters on top of previous military deliveries.

SAUDI ARABIA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading the charge by Gulf monarchies. The two countries have played a major role in recent strikes against IS targets in Syria. According to the Pentagon, 10 of 16 planes that hit oil refineries controlled by militant group were from Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the two countries accounted for 80 percent of the ordnance used. Prior to that, Saudi Arabia had hosted moderate Syrian rebels for training and provided equipment for them.

BAHRAIN: Host to the US Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has confirmed having taken part along with other Gulf monarchies in air strikes against IS militants in Syria.

JORDAN: A neighbor of both Iraq and Syria, the kingdom has acknowledged participating actively in initial strikes on Syrian soil. King Abdullah II has said his country "is at the forefront" of efforts to form "a collective strategy to contain and defeat" groups such as the IS.

QATAR: Qatar has remained discreet regarding its level of participation in anti-IS strikes. It has nonetheless allowed the US to use the Al-Udeid airbase for airborne units of Centcom, the US command center for the Middle East and Central Asia. On Friday, the Emir of Qatar denied that his country was financing extremist groups and affirmed his unwavering long-term commitment to the coalition.

KUWAIT: Hosts US military facilities.

ALBANIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, DENMARK, ESTONIA, POLAND: These countries have delivered military equipment and munitions to forces fighting the IS.

AUSTRALIA: Has deployed 600 soldiers to the UAE and has delivered military equipment to Iraqi Kurds.

BELGIUM: Providing six F-16 combat jets to the coalition force following parliamentary approval, with stipulation they can only intervene in Iraq.

CANADA: Has sent 69 special forces soldiers, as well as military equipment, to Iraq. It has also transported military equipment from Albania and the Czech Republic.

DENMARK: The Danish prime minister said Denmark would send seven F-16 jets to Iraq.

GERMANY: Has delivered arms and is training Kurdish fighters. Berlin also plans to send around 40 soldiers to Iraq. ITALY: Has supplied light weapons.

TURKEY: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled that Turkey would take a more active role in the international coalition following the release of Turkish hostages held by the group.

12,000-15,000 Syrian rebels needed to retake eastern Syria, Dempsey says

Reuters — A Western-backed opposition force of around 12,000 to 15,000 would be required to retake areas of eastern Syria now controlled by Islamic State, the top US military officer said on Friday.

"Five thousand has never been the end state … Twelve to 15,000 is what we believe they would need to recapture lost territory in eastern Syria," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Scene at Sanliurfa province in Syria-Turkey border

Turkish and Syrian Kurds shout slogans after destroying the border fence into Kobani in neighboring Syria during a demonstration near the Mursitpinar border crossing, in Sanliurfa province, on Sept. 26, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkish and Syrian Kurds tear down the border fence to cross into Kobani in neighboring Syria during a demonstration near the Mursitpinar border crossing, in Sanliurfa province, on Sept. 26, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter chants slogan with other Kurds after destroying the border fence into neighboring Syria during a demonstration to support the inhabitants of Kobani near the Mursitpinar border crossing at Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on Sept. 26, 2014.BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

Pentagon briefing at 1:15 p.m. EST

Watch it live on NBC News:

British parliament approves airstrikes against Islamic state in Iraq

Reuters —  Britain's parliament on Friday voted to approve airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq by 524 votes to 43, paving the way for the Royal Air Force to join US-led military action with immediate effect.

Six Cyprus-based Tornado GR4 fighter-bombers are on standby to take part in initial strikes after Prime Minister David Cameron recalled parliament from recess to back military action following an official request from the Iraqi government.

Red Cross urges all sides in Iraq, Syria to spare civilians, allow aid

Reuters — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appealed on Friday to all parties in the widening conflicts in Syria and Iraq to spare civilians and let in aid.

The proliferation of armed groups and recent international air strikes in Iraq and Syria have "compounded the humanitarian consequences of the conflicts in both countries," the aid agency said in a statement.

"Under international humanitarian law, every party to these conflicts must refrain from harming civilians, must protect medical personnel and facilities, and must allow humanitarian workers to bring help," said Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations.

No, Russia will not be helping the US strike IS in Syria

GlobalPost senior correspondent Dan Peleschuk's dispatch from Moscow, Russia:

As President Barack Obama seeks further international support for US-led airstrikes in Syriaagainst Islamist militants, there’s one place he probably shouldn’t bother looking.

Despite Russia’s loudly public condemnation of international terrorism, the Kremlin has refused to back military intervention there, standing firm on a position it’s held since the beginning of the crisis three years ago.

Back then, Russian officials warned about the potential blowback of arming Syrian rebel groups. Now, it seems, they’re basking in their own foresight.

Read on here.

What the Peshmerga is saying

BBC Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports:

Wary of airstrikes, Islamic State militants change tactics

Reuters — Islamic State militants are changing tactics in the face of US airstrikes in northern Iraq, ditching conspicuous convoys in favor of motorcycles and planting their black flags on civilian homes, tribal sources and eyewitnesses say.

They reported fewer militant checkpoints to weed out "apostates" and less cell phone use since the air strikes intensified and more US allies pledged to join the campaign that began in August, saying the militants had also split up to limit casualties.

A tribal sheikh from a village south of Kirkuk said Islamic State elements "abandoned one of their biggest headquarters in the village" when they heard the air strike campaign was likely to target their area.

"They took all their furniture, vehicles and weapons. Then they planted roadside bombs and destroyed the headquarters," said the tribal sheikh who declined to be named. "They don't move in military convoys like before. Instead they use motorcycles, bicycles, and if necessary, they use camouflaged cars," he said. 

The militants have also taken to erecting their notorious black flag on the rooftops of several mostly empty residential houses and buildings, to create confusion about their actual presence.

Civilian casualties are a major concern as US war planes venture deeper into the Tigris River valley and to Iraq's western desert in the name of breaking Islamic State's grip on mostly Sunni parts of Iraq — nearly one-third of the country. 

Thousands of Europeans have joined IS

This report via BBC News:

The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has risen to more than 3,000, the EU's anti-terrorism chief has told the BBC.

Gilles de Kerchove also warned that Western air strikes would increase the risk of retaliatory attacks in Europe.

Read the full story here.

Also:

Will the UK go to war against IS in Iraq?

British MPs are debating it now. Follow it live on The Guardian's live blog.

How airstrikes against IS in Syria could be helping Assad

GlobalPost news editor Peter Gelling weighs in:

When US President Barack Obama first announced his intention to launch airstrikes against the Islamic state in Syria, he said it would be done without aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is not a good man and whom many believe is the root of the problem. But after four days of bombing, it's becoming clear that fighting the Islamic State is inherently helpful to Assad.

The enemy of your enemy might also be your enemy, but if you choose to fight one of them, the other is going to benefit. Many Syrians fear that Assad's very scary security forces will fill the void left by a defeated Islamic State. It's hard for them to know which is worse.

Now Obama might be forced to help Iran as well. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday he would be willing to take a much more proactive role in fighting extremism if the United States and its allies could reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. Any deal would require curbs to Iran's nuclear development in exchange for sanctions relief. Rouhani also said the rise of extremism is the fault of the West.

He might be on to something.

Iraqi president on IS

Watch here:

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the #CFRLive hashtag.

IS stops pumping oil in eastern Syria after raids

Agence France-Presse — Militants with the Islamic State group have stopped oil extraction from fields in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria after US-led strikes targeted refineries, activists told AFP on Friday.

"Oil extraction has been halted because of the security situation," said Leith al-Deiri, an activist in Deir Ezzor. The US-led coalition striking positions of the Islamic State group in Syria since Tuesday has not targeted any oil fields, but it has hit several makeshift refineries used by the extremists.

The only field in Deir Ezzor now operating is the Coneco gas field, which is used to produce electricity for six provinces, said Deiri, who used a pseudonym for fear of persecution by the militants.

Protesters show support for Al Qaeda-affiliated Syrian group

The Al Qaeda-linked resistance group Al Nusra Front in Syria is apparently gaining popularity amid US-led airstrikes. Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, just shared these images:

Denmark to send seven F-16s to Iraq

Reuters — Denmark will send seven F-16 fighter jets to Iraq as part of the US coalition to dislodge Islamic State extremists, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said on Friday.

She told a news conference she received an official request for assistance from the United States on Thursday evening.

"The government is therefore ready to quickly send seven F-16 fighter jets to the operation," Thorning-Schmidt said. She said she expected the Danish parliament to approve the country's participation next week, and the planes would start operating right away. The planes will serve only over Iraqi airspace, and not over Syria, she said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron urged parliament on Friday to vote to approve "years" of air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, saying the group was guilty of "staggering" brutality and posed a direct threat to Britain.

Cameron recalled parliament from recess for a special session after securing cross-party support for strikes against IS and his government is expected to comfortably win the vote, which is expected at around 1600 GMT.

"Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes," Cameron told parliament, saying he thought action would need to last "years" to be effective.

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Iraqi leader claims there's a subway plot, US says no such info

Reuters — The United States has no evidence to back up an Iraqi claim that Islamic State forces were plotting to attack United States subway systems, two senior US government security officials told Reuters on Thursday.

Iraq is assessing the veracity of purported threats to the US and French subway systems, a senior Iraqi official said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraq had received "credible" intelligence on Thursday morning of such a plot by Islamic State militants.

"There were serious threats that were uncovered by Iraqi intelligence, and they were forwarded to the appropriate security authorities of our partners," the Iraqi official said in a statement.

"A full assessment of the veracity of the intelligence and how far the plans have gone into implementation is ongoing. We cannot further discuss the nature of the threat in the media, except to reaffirm that Daesh [Islamic State] will continue to endanger international peace and security unless it is eradicated," he said.

Here's what the BBC had to say:

The FBI could have ID'd the IS hostage executioner — but won't say who

(Screengrab)

Agence France-Presse — The United States has identified the masked Islamic State militant who murdered two kidnapped American journalists in separate videotaped beheadings, FBI chief James Comey said Thursday.

The militant organization triggered global outrage when it released videos of a man with a British accent killing first James Foley then Steven Sotloff, freelance journalists who were kidnapped in Syria.

"We believe we have identified the executioner," Comey told reporters at a briefing in Washington. "I won't tell you who it is."

The British ambassador in Washington, Sir Peter Westmacott, had previously said that the allies were close to identifying the suspect.

Comey did not confirm or deny reports that the suspect in the killing is British, but said the FBI was concerned that another film from the Islamic State group features someone with a North American accent.

"Flames of War" — a slickly produced propaganda video aimed at intimidating Western audiences and recruiting English-speaking fighters — was released earlier this month.

It features a masked militant in combat fatigues speaking in English.

"There's no doubt that there's someone speaking with a North American-accented English on that video, so that's a big focus of ours right now," Comey said.

US probes reports of civilian casualties

Agence France-Presse — The Pentagon said Thursday it will investigate reports that civilians were killed in US-led air strikes in Syria this week but insisted the raids were carried out with precision. 

"We are aware of some reporting out there that there may have been civilian casualties, and we are taking a look at that," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

Great piece on the Emirates' first female fighter pilot

An important perspective in this story on The Washington Post by Ishaan Tharoor on the United Arab Emirates' first female fighter pilot.

"On the same day [Maj. Mariam] al-Mansouri won plaudits for her role in the airstrikes, debate broke out in Saudi Arabia over the propriety of a woman — clad head to toe in conservative garb — who was filmed riding a horse while waving a Saudi flag," writes Tharoor. "The U.A.E. is no paragon of women's rights either. Female migrant workers in the country face harrowing conditions and abuse, while Emirati laws still don't provide legal recourse for marital rape."

Read the full piece here.

Why the US is targeting oil refineries held by IS militants

The Guardian's Luke Harding explains:

The US said that these "small-scale refineries" provided fuel for Isis’s military operations as well as money to finance "continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria." … Washington says the refineries currently produce between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum a day, generating as much as $2m daily for Isis.

Read Harding's analysis here.

Kurdish forces push back Islamic State in northern Syria

Reuters — Kurdish forces in northern Syria pushed back an advance by Islamic State fighters towards the border town of Kobani in overnight clashes, two Kurdish officials said on Thursday. 

Officials said Islamic State had concentrated their fighters south of Kobani late on Wednesday and had pushed towards the town but Kurdish YPG forces repelled them.

"The YPG responded and pushed them back to about 6-9 miles away," Idris Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in the Kobani canton, told Reuters by telephone.

Britain arrests 9 men suspected of having ties to extremist groups

Questions over strikes on Khorasan Group in Syria

On Tuesday, Washington said it targeted the Khorasan Group, a little-known Al Qaeda-linked cell in Syria. Since then, there have been numerous news reports probing into this group and the rationale for US strikes against it.

Buzzfeed's Mike Giglio talked to one official who is part of the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group. 

Here's what he said to Giglio:

He suggested that Nusra and the US, which backs moderate rebel groups inside Syria, were on the same side: "We are fighting with the rebels. We are fighting with their alliance against the other alliance. So why attack us?"

For further reading, have a look at this Agence France-Presse story:

"In Syria, no one had ever heard talk of Khorasan until the US media brought it up," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Rebels, activists and the whole world knows that these positions (hit Tuesday) were Al-Nusra positions, and the fighters killed were Al-Nusra fighters," added Abdel Rahman, who has tracked the Syrian conflict since it erupted in 2011.

Also, this excellent explainer on Mother Jones: What is Khorasan and why did the US just bomb it?

Lebanon arrests hundreds of suspected militants

Tracing the origins of Islamic State's ideology

This New York Times story by David Kirkpatrick delves into how Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's creed "has clear roots in the 18th-century Arabian Peninsula."

"It was there that the Saud clan formed an alliance with the puritanical scholar Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab," Kirkpatrick writes. "And as they conquered the warring tribes of the desert, his austere interpretation of Islam became the foundation of the Saudi state."

Saudi Arabia is part of the US-led coalition striking Islamic State militants in Syria.

Read the full story here.

France launches fresh Iraq strikes as country mourns hostage

Agence France-Presse has the story:

France carried out a fresh round of air strikes in Iraq Thursday as it renewed its determination to fight Islamic State militants after the beheading of hostage Herve Gourdel.

President Francois Hollande pledged "determination, composure and vigilance" in the face of threats at a cabinet meeting and announced that flags nationwide would be flown at half-mast for three days from Friday to mourn the loss of the 55-year-old mountaineer.

And from Reuters:

Meanwhile, a third night of US-led airstrikes pounded Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in eastern Syria, as the United States and its partners moved to choke off a crucial source of revenue for the militant group, US officials said on Wednesday.

The US Central Command said there were a total of 13 strikes against 12 modular oil refineries controlled by Islamic State fighters as well as another strike that destroyed an Islamic State vehicle.

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Brazil and Ecuador come out against airstrikes in Syria

GlobalPost's Americas editor Alex Leff writes:

The governments of Brazil and Ecuador are taking a bold stance this week: They’re rejecting United States-led airstrikes in Syria as an invasion and unnecessary escalation of violence.

This is the latest pushback by South American countries against foreign adventures carried out by the White House and/or its allies — but one that’s slightly harder to decode than previous disputes.

Syria’s government itself appears to welcome the air war in its territory. Bombs dropped by US and Arab powers are targeting Islamist militants that the Syrian regime is fighting, too.

But that doesn’t make it legal, Brazil and Ecuador argue.

Read the full story here.

UN backs strong laws against foreign extremist fighters

Reuters — The UN Security Council demanded on Wednesday that all states make it a serious criminal offense for their citizens to travel abroad to fight with militant groups, or to recruit and fund others to do so, in a move sparked by the rise of Islamic State.

At a meeting chaired by US President Barack Obama, the 15-member council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution that compels countries to "prevent and suppress" the recruitment and travel of militant fighters to foreign conflicts.

The UN action was prompted by the rise of Islamic State and Al Qaeda's Syrian wing, Nusra Front. Some 12,000 fighters from more than 70 nations have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight with extremist groups, experts say.

The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes it legally binding for the 193 UN member states and gives the Security Council authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions or force.

It generally targets fighters traveling to conflicts anywhere in the world. It does not mandate military force to tackle the foreign fighter issue.

For important context, read this piece by Hayes Brown, the world editor at ThinkProgress:

Hollande denounces 'cowardly' hostage murder

Agence France-Presse — French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday denounced as "cruel and cowardly" the murder of a French hostage abducted in Algeria by militants linked to the Islamic State group.

Hollande said he would convene a special security meeting at the Elysee palace on Thursday to discuss the latest developments and vowed France would stay the course in fighting Islamists in Iraq.

"This aggression only reinforces my determination" to confront the jihadist threat, Hollande said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Obama will be speaking at the UN Security Summit

Watch it live on NBC News:

Wary of US-led bombings, Syrians in Egypt say Assad is the real threat

Barakat al-Halabi’s Chicken in Egypt's 6th of October City, where many Syrian refugees live. (Laura Dean/GlobalPost)

GlobalPost senior correspondent Laura Dean's dispatch from 6th of October City, Egypt:

Syrians in the neighborhood known as "Little Damascus" dream of the day when they can go home. But they're not optimistic that a US-led bombing campaign will end a civil war that has spiraled for more than three years and has killed more than 200,000.

They fear the latest round of airstrikes will only result in more civilian casualties.

While opinions varied greatly on how to stop the violence, most refugees interviewed Tuesday agreed on one thing: Bashar al-Assad has caused far more damage for Syrians than the Islamic State has.

"We are tired of thinking about blood," says Ahlam Haj Naasan, a 47-year-old woman from Aleppo. Her name means "dreams" in Arabic. She says wearily that she wants "only security." …

A 50-year-old man who identifies himself only as Abu Mohamed, from Deraa in southwestern Syria, asks to be interviewed away from his neighbors. After walking down the block, he looks over his shoulder to make sure we’re alone.

“I’m with the regime,” he says, meaning he supports Assad. He also supports the US-led offensive, which he believes will end the civil war within a month or two.

But he stresses that he doesn’t want anyone to kill civilians, only members of armed extremist groups — he lists "Daesh" (as the Islamic State is known in Arabic), Al Qaeda and Jabhat Al Nusra. 

Mohannad, 23, an agricultural student at Cairo University who comes from the northern Syrian city of Idlib, argues for a distinction between those groups.

“Jabhat el Nusra has support in Syria, unlike Daesh. The extremism of Daesh — people are not used to it,” he says.

Unlike IS, the extremist Jabhat Al Nusra is made up mostly of Syrians whose stated goal includes fighting Assad.

“People will be angry if they attack Jabhat Al Nusra,” Mohannad says. “They are more popular than Daesh.”

Mohannad’s hometown of Idlib was hit by airstrikes on Tuesday, too, allegedly by the US, but he hadn’t yet been in touch with his family there. He only talks to them every month or two by phone.

Read Dean's full piece here. 

This is the aftermath of US-led airstrikes in Syria

Boys inspect a vehicle which was damaged in what activists say was one of Tuesday's US airstrikes in Kfredrian,Idlib province Sept. 24, 2014. Ammar Abdullah/Reuters A resident walks upon the debris of buildings which were damaged in what activists say was one of Tuesday's US airstrikes in Kfredrian, Idlib province Sept. 24, 2014. Ammar Abdullah/Reuters Residents look at buildings which were damaged in what activists say was one of Tuesday's US airstrikes in Kfredrian, Idlib province Sept. 24, 2014. Ammar Abdullah/Reuters

IS-linked group beheads Frenchman abducted in Algeria

More from Agence France-Presse:

Militants linked to the Islamic State group beheaded a Frenchman abducted in Algeria in a video posted online on Wednesday, after giving a 24-hour deadline to Paris.

Herve Gourdel, a 55-year-old hiker from the southern French city of Nice, was kidnapped on Sunday by Jund al-Khilifa, which demanded France stop its airstrikes against IS in Iraq.

Only one World Heritage Site remains intact in Syria

"A new report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science shows the extent of that destruction: Using high-resolution satellite imagery, AAAS discovered that five of Syria's six World Heritage Sites had sustained significant damage," Elahe Izadi of The Washington Post writes. "Only the ancient city of Damascus appears to have been spared." 

GlobalPost's Simran Khosla produced an interactive map in March which shows the damage to heritage and archeological sites in Syria as a result of the country's civil war. View it here.

ZEIN AL-RIFAI/AFP/Getty Images.

The human rights record of the US coalition bombing Syria

GlobalPost's Allison Jackson reports:

The United States has joined forces with five Arab nations to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

US President Barack Obama said Monday the United States was "proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with its Arab allies in the bombing campaign.

While no one is questioning the depravity of the Islamic State, which has slaughtered thousands of people in its crusade to control parts Syria and Iraq, America’s Arab teammates really aren't all that much better. 

Read on here.

Yazidi survivors speak out about their plight

BBC News reports:

When tens of thousands of members of Iraq's Yazidi minority fled from Islamic State (IS) early last month, many were stranded on the barren slopes of Mount Sinjar.

They became the focus of international attention. But now they say the world has forgotten their plight.

GlobalPost's Tracey Shelton talked to Yazidis who fled from IS. 

Watch: On Location Video: The Yazidis who survived the assault on Sinjar

Read: This man has lost 63 relatives to the Islamic State and This 84-year-old woman crawled on her knees to safety to escape the Islamic State

Second day of airstrikes

Reuters — US-led forces carried out at least 13 air strikes in Syria close to the Iraqi border on Wednesday, a second day of targeting Islamic State militants who have seized land on both sides of the frontier, a group that tracks the Syrian war said.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters the raids had hit the border town of Albu Kamal and surrounding areas. 

Albu Kamal, on the main Euphrates River valley highway, is one of the most important border crossings betweenIraq and Syria, along a frontier that Islamic State wants to erase after seizing territory both sides and declaring a caliphate.

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Grim reports of civilian deaths

Raya Jalabi of The Guardian has rounded up reports of civilian casulties of the airstrikes in Syria by US and its Arab allies. From Jalabi's post on The Guardian's live blog:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a Britain-based watchdog that has consistently charted military activity throughout Syria’s war – claimed that at least eight civilians had been killed, of which three were children. A Facebook group for the town of Kfar Dariyan in Idlib province posted several updates on civilian casualties that supported the SOHR’s initial claims.

Read the full post on The Guardian.

And Al Aan TV's Jenan Moussa shared this photo showing the impact of the airstrikes in Idlib:

What the fall of Raqqa might mean for those threatened by IS rule

GlobalPost's Tracey Shelton sends in this report from Sulaymaniyah, Iraq:

The scenes feature in all the Islamic State propaganda videos. Bearded men dressed in black drive though the streets of Raqqa in tanks and combat vehicles seized from Syrian and Iraqi governments.

Men and young boys wave black flags and cheer. Spliced-in footage shows executions and beheadings. The northern Syrian city of Raqqa has made headlines since the Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIL or ISIS, seized control in January.

It is now their capital — a place simultaneously shrouded in ghoulish mystery and the most successful example of a functioning, albeit tyrannical, Islamic municipality.

But could the US bombing campaign that started on Monday night be the beginning of the de facto IS capital’s demise?

Read the full story here.

What is the justification for US-led airstrikes?

The New York Times takes a close look at this question: 

"Senior administration officials said on Tuesday that Iraq had a valid right of self-defense against the Islamic State — also known as ISIS or ISIL — because the militant group was attacking Iraq from its havens in Syria, and the Syrian government had proved unable or unwilling to suppress that threat," Charlie Savage writes. "Iraq asked the United States for assistance in defending itself, making the strikes legal, the officials said."

US military video footage of airstrikes

The BBC reports:

Activists say at least 70 IS militants and 50 other Al Qaeda-linked fighters were killed in the strikes.

Watch the video here.

British Muslims offer pleas for IS hostage

GlobalPost's Corinne Purtill reports from London, UK:

The Islamic State’s public executions of Western hostages have drawn condemnation from Muslims around the world since they began last month.

But the most recent threat — to British taxi driver Alan Henning, who was in Syria for the purpose of providing aid for Muslims — has drawn deeply personal and heartfelt pleas from Muslims in the UK.

"Please, please, please, please show him some mercy," said Majid Freeman, 26, a Leicester man who was part of the humanitarian aid convoy from which Henning was kidnapped, in an appearance on the BBC.

"Please, please don’t kill him. Please spare him. Just let him come back home."

Read the story here. 

Turkey might provide military or logistics support

Reuters — Turkey could give military or logistical support to US-led air strikes against Islamic State insurgents in Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"We will give the necessary support to the operation. The support could be military or logistics," Erdogan was quoted by Turkish broadcaster NTV as telling reporters in New York.

Assad's apparently cool with 'any international anti-terrorism effort'

This is from The Associated Press: 

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Tuesday he supports any international effort against terrorism, apparently trying to position his government on the side of the US-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State group. …

In a meeting Tuesday with an Iraqi envoy, Assad voiced his support for "any international anti-terrorism effort," according to the state news agency SANA. He did not specifically mention the coalition airstrikes. He said Syria is "decisively continuing in the war it has waged for years against extremist terrorism in all its forms."

Read the entire article on The Washington Post.

IS scares Britain in a way none of the Assad regime’s atrocities have

From GlobalPost's senior correspondent in London Corinne Purtill:

As US-led airstrikes continued Tuesday against Islamic State targets in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron was preparing for Britain’s reentry into combat in the Middle East.

He’s in New York, where he’s set to address the UN General Assembly tomorrow in a speech that could confirm what most here already suspect: the UK will join the attack against IS, albeit in limited form.

Cameron is expected to recall parliament as early as Friday to discuss British military involvement. The days until then will be spent building support among international partners and politicians at home.

The latter task is most crucial for what happens next. Cameron is keen not to repeat the frustration and embarrassment of last year, when parliament refused his request to approve airstrikes in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad apparently used chemical weapons.

But public support for UK military action against IS has shot up 15 percent in just the last month — since the publicized beheading of British aid worker David Haines at the hands of an IS militant with a British accent, and the parading of two other UK hostages in IS videos.

Read the rest of Purtill's report here.

What young Syrians are saying about US-led airstrikes

Martin Chulov of The Guardian talked to civilians in Raqqa.

"In the beginning, I was excited about the air strikes but now I fear these attacks and the motivations behind them," 25-year-old Yasir says.

Read it in full here.  

UN Refugee Agency says thousands of Syrian Kurds are fleeing 

AFP/Getty photographer Bulent Kilic has taken these striking photos of Syrian Kurds as they cross the border to Turkey. The UN Refugee Agency estimates that 138,000 Syrian Kurds have fled since last week, Reuters reports.

"We are preparing for the potential of the whole population fleeing into Turkey. Anything could happen," UNHCR chief spokeswoman Melissa Fleming was quoted as saying by Reuters.

These photos are a heart-wrenching glimpse into the plight of those who bear the brunt of brutal wars being waged on their homes.

A Syrian Kurdish child cries as Turkish police search their bags after they crossed the border between Syria and Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Syrian Kurds carry their belongings as they cross the border between Syria and Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Syrian Kurds sit in a truck after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Syrian Kurds sit in a truck after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

US 'eliminated' Al Qaeda plotters in Syria: Pentagon

Agence France-Presse — US air strikes have killed a group of Al-Qaeda veterans, members of the Khorasan group in Syria, who were suspected of plotting an imminent attack on Western targets, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

"We believe that the individuals that were plotting and planning … it have been eliminated," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told ABC television, referring to the alleged plan to hit US interests.

The strikes against the Khorasan group early Tuesday were separate from a wave of bombing raids led by the United States and backed by several Arab countries that targeted the Islamic State group in eastern Syria.

Raw footage of US airstrikes

'This is not America's fight alone,' Obama says

US President Barack Obama just spoke about the US-led campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria. Here are key excerpts from his remarks:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani doesn't approve of US airstrikes in Syria

NBC News reports:

The Iranian president's critique of the US bombardment in Syria comes less than a week after he blasted the US-led coalition against ISIS as "ridiculous."

Read the rest here.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister David Cameron will be meeting Rouhani in New York on Wednesday, BBC News reports. It's a historic meeting for "it will be the first time a UK prime minister has met an Iranian president since Iran's revolution in 1979." More details on the BBC's website.

Obama to speak on airstrikes against Islamic State at 10 a.m. EST

Watch it live on NBC News:

Training camp for Syrian rebels in… Georgia?

Interesting piece in Foreign Policy magazine this morning:

"In a potential boost for the Obama administration, the former Soviet republic of Georgia has offered to host a training facility for the Syrian rebels as a part of the US-led war against Islamic State militants in both Syria and Iraq, according to an American administration official," John Hudson writes. "If accepted, the offer could supplement the White House's existing plan to train 5,000 Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia in the next year to fight against the extremists now controlling swaths of both Iraq and Syria." More here. 

Here's where the airstrikes are taking place

The Washington Post's digital foreign editor just tweeted out this map:

Airstrikes kill at least 70 Islamic State fighters

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents violence and human rights abuses in Syria, said at least 70 Islamic State fighters were killed in US-led airstrikes, Reuters reports. From the story: 

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the death toll was likely to be much higher. "The information is the numbers are bigger than that," he told Reuters by telephone.

He was citing casualties in the provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Hasakah in northern and eastern Syria. Abdulrahman said the total number of dead and wounded was at least 300.

And so it begins: US and Arab allies bomb Islamic State militants in Syria

GlobalPost's Lizzy Tomei reports:

The US military and partner forces have begun a bombing campaign against the Islamic State (IS) inside Syria, the Pentagon confirmed Monday night.

Using one of the acronyms for the terror group also known as ISIS, press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby wrote on Twitter that the joint forces had started "striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles."

The Associated Press reported that the strikes launched by manned aircraft and US ships in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea "were conducted by the US, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates."

The Syrian government was informed about the strikes in advance, the AP said.

Read the piece here.