Navy video shows Tomahawk missiles launched against IS targets in Syria

WASHINGTON – INTERNATIONAL NEWS – U.S. military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria, using a mix of attack aircraft, bombers, fighters and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct eight airstrikes Sept. 22 through today.

U.S. Navy video showed the guided-missile cruiser U.S.S. Philippine Sea launching Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAM) against Islamic State targets on Tuesday (September 23).

The United States and its Arab allies bombed militant groups in Syria for the first time early Tuesday, killing scores of Islamic State fighters, members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group and opening a new front amid shifting Middle East alliances.

The attacks encountered no objection, and even signs of tacit approval, from President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian government, which said Washington had warned Damascus in advance.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates participated in or supported the strikes against Islamic State targets, U.S. Central Command said. The countries are hostile to Assad but now fear the fighters who emerged from the rebellion they backed in Syria’s 3-year-old civil war.

U.S. President Barack Obama is taking to the podium in New York today at the United Nations to press his case against ISIS or ISIL, the Islamic State over its actions in Iraq and Syria and threatened actions against western countries.

U.S. Central Command officials reported.

• Two airstrikes west of Baghdad destroyed two ISIL armed vehicles and a weapons cache;
• Two airstrikes southeast of Irbil, Iraq, destroyed ISIL fighting positions;
• An airstrike in Syria, northwest of Qaim, damaged eight ISIL vehicles;
• In two airstrikes conducted Sept. 22 as part of the operation over Syria, one damaged an ISIL armed vehicle and the other destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle southwest of Dayr Az Zawr; and
• An airstrike northwest of Baghdad yesterday destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle.

All aircraft left the attack areas safely, Centcom officials said. To date, they added, Centcom has conducted 198 airstrikes across Iraq against ISIL, and along with partner nations, has conducted 20 airstrikes against ISIL in Syria.