US points to Arab role as 
 jihadists 
blitzed

Mr Obama said the joint fight against the “Islamic State” (IS) will take time, but is vital to the security of the United States, the Middle East and the world.

The US-Arab air strikes on Monday night targeted the group’s headquarters in eastern Syria.

Last night Pentagon officials revealed the US had bombed a cell of al-Qaida militants in north-western Syria after concluding they were close to attacking the US or Europe, .

General William Mayville, the Pentagon’s operations chief, told reporters that the Khorasan Group was nearing “the execution phase of an attack either in Europe or the homeland”.

The action is separate from the air strikes against IS.

The Khorasan Group, which consists of al-Qaida veterans who fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is focused on attacking the west, not the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad, Gen Mayville said.

He added that it was too early to describe the effects of the eight air strikes against Khorasan Group targets, or to say who may have been killed.

Mr Obama said the US was “proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder” with Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in conducting the strikes.

Mr Obama, speaking ahead of meetings at the UN General Assembly in New York, said: “We’re going to do what’s necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group.”

US Army General Martin Dempsey, the top American military official, said the US and its Arab allies had achieved their aim of showing the extremists that their attacks will not go unanswered.

The US and five Arab nations attacked the IS headquarters in eastern Syria in night-time raids on Monday using land-and-sea-based US aircraft as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from two Navy ships in the Red Sea and the northern Persian Gulf.

The air strikes against IS targets were carried out in the city of Raqqa and other areas in eastern Syria. They were part of the expanded military campaign that Mr Obama authorised nearly two weeks ago in order to disrupt and destroy the militants, who have slaughtered thousands of people, beheaded westerners – including two American journalists and Yorkshire-born aid worker David Haines – and captured large swathes of Syria and northern and western Iraq.

Central command said the US fired 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles from aboard the USS Arleigh Burke and USS Philippine Sea, operating from international waters in the Red Sea and the northern Persian Gulf. US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighter jets, drones and bombers also participated.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon Press secretary, said the strikes were not coordinated with the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad, but added: “There was no resistance, no interaction with Syrian air forces or military defences” during the operation.”

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said the strikes were illegal because they were not approved by or coordinated with Syria’s government. But he said Iran condemns IS and stood ready to help fight terrorism.