US Begins Air Strikes on IS Targets in Syria
The US and a coalition of international partners have begun launching air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria.
The strikes inside territory have involved fighter jets, bombers and Tomahawk missiles.
Among the countries who have reportedly been involved in the strikes include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar.
Observers are suggesting the inclusion of countries with a Sunni majority, such as Saudi Arabia, is critical if the US wants to maintain international support for its expanded operations in Syrian territory.
The Syrian government has not formally consented or protested the air strikes in its territory.
But Damascus says it was informed about them before they took place.
The strikes are part of President Barack Obama's pledge to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State, which has taken huge swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
The US has been launching air strikes in Iraq since August.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' Envoy to the Middle East, former UK prime minister Tony Blair, is suggesting ground troops may be needed in both Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State.
"You will defeat them in part by fighting them on the ground, by the measures that we're now contemplating in respect to ISIS. But the other thing you've got to do is to root out the education systems, worldwide, in which millions of young people are being educated in early age to religious prejudice, to the view of the world that is incompatible with the modern world."
The US and UK governments have so far ruled out the possibility of re-deploying ground troops into either Iraq or Syria.
For more on the new developments, we spoke earlier with Professor Jin Canrong, an international relations expert from Renmin University.
That's Jin Canrong, an international relations expert from Renmin University.
