US in more airstrikes aimed at Islamists
Print Edition
THE United States has launched a new barrage of airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group that beheaded American journalist James Foley and that has seized a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria.
US President Barack Obama vowed relentless pursuit of the terrorists and the White House revealed that the US had launched a secret rescue mission inside Syria earlier this summer that failed to rescue Foley and other Americans still being held hostage.
In brief but forceful remarks, Obama said the US would “do what we must to protect our people,” but he stopped short of promising to follow the Islamic State in its safe haven within Syria, where officials said Foley had been killed.
Later, though, the administration revealed that several dozen special operations troops had been on the ground in Syria briefly in an effort to rescue the hostages, but did not find them.
The State Department refused to rule out future US military operations in Syria, where Obama has long resisted intervening in a three-year civil war.
Western nations agreed to speed help to combat the militants — most notably Germany, which bucked public opposition by announcing it would arm Iraqi Kurdish fighters to battle the Islamic State.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was outraged by the beheading, deeming it evidence of a “caliphate of barbarism.” Italy’s defense minister said the country hopes to contribute machine guns, ammunition and anti-tank rockets.
The Islamic State called Foley’s death a revenge killing for US airstrikes against militants in Iraq, and said other hostages would be slain if the attacks continued. Undeterred, the US conducted 14 additional strikes after a video of the beheading surfaced, bringing to 84 the number of airstrikes since they began on August 8.
Two US officials said additional American troops — probably fewer than 300 — could be headed to Iraq to provide extra security around Baghdad, where the US Embassy is located. That would bring the total number of American forces in Iraq to well over 1,000, although officials said no final decision had been made.
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