Al-Jazeera.com :
Barack Obama has said that the participation of five Arab nations in air raids against ISIL in Syria “makes it clear to the world this is not America’s fight alone”.
The US president on Tuesday promised to continue the fight, which he said was vital to the security of his country, the Middle East and the world.
st be clear to anyone who would plot against America and do Americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people,” he said.
He added the joint fight against ISIL would take time, and promised to build more international support for the effort.
The American-led coalition conducted more than 200 air strikes on Tuesday against roughly two dozen targets in northern and eastern Syria.
ISIL controls a vast stretch of territory spanning the Syrian-Iraqi frontier and are fighting to expand the boundaries of their self-declared Islamic “caliphate”. The UN has accused the group of committing atrocities in both countries.
The US-led campaign against ISIL has met with mixed reaction from Syria’s multitude of rebel brigades, many of whom have been locked in a deadly fight with ISIL since January. But the rebels’ ultimate goal is to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the US is focused on defeating the ISIL.
On Wednesday, the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group criticised the American-led air strikes for being limited to ISIL and other self-declared jihadists while leaving Assad’s government untouched.
“We regret that the international community has come up with partial solutions to the Syrian conflict in which hundreds of thousands were killed or detained by the Assad regime,” said Nasr al-Hariri, secretary-general of the Syrian National Coalition.
Besides ISIL, the raids also hit al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, which has fought against ISIL. Washington considers it a terrorist group that threatens the US.
