In the previous blog we learned just how thin the “coalition” of Arab countries is for President Obama\’s air strikes on Syria.
Well, here, excerpted from its current lead article, is a very different story – a much improved one – about Arab participation:
Obama:Syria strikes show \’this is not America\’s fight alone\’
Thecoalition that attacked ISIS in Syria overnight “makes it clearto the world that this is not America\’s fight alone,” U.S.President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
Notingthat he had “made clear that America would act as part of abroad coalition,” the President declared at the White House:”That\’s exactly what we\’ve done.”
Bahrain,Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar allparticipated in the operation, the U.S. military said. Bahrain,Jordan, and the UAE all said they took part in the airstrikes. SaudiArabia did as well, the U.S. military said, and Qatar played asupporting role.
Bahrain\’sstate-run media said the country\’s air force “carried outearlier this morning along with the air forces of the GulfCooperation Council (GCC), allied and friendly countries, air strikesagainst a number of selected targets of terrorist groups andorganisations, and destroyed them, an authorised source at theBahrain Defence Force (BDF)\’s General Headquarters said.”
TheUAE air force “launched its first strikes against ISIL targetslast evening,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Jordan\’sofficial news agency, Petra, said the country carried out airstrikesagainst terrorist groups in Syria. It cited an unnamed militaryofficial as explaining the strikes were needed due to increasedincidents and infiltrations along the border in the past two months.The report said Jordan will carry out further strikes if borderattacks keep up.
Now I\’m confused.
How many air strikes did Bahrain, UAE and Jordan rain on ISIS? How many more will there be? Is this for real (always an issue when the Obama administration is involved)?
And, most importantly, will any of these countries put even one soldier on the ground….because without them the air strikes are little more than target practice, and won\’t do away with ISIS or even come close.
Waiting for more information.
