Obama's path to air strikes
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
New York (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's policy toward Syria -- three years of red lines and calls for regime change -- culminated Monday in a barrage of airstrikes on terror targets there, marking a turning point for the conflict and thrusting the President further into it.
The U.S. said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan had joined in the attack on ISIS targets near Raqqa in Syria. The U.S. also launched airstrikes against another terrorist organization, the Khorasan Group. Obama described its members as "seasoned al Qaeda operatives in Syria," and U.S. officials said the group was plotting attacks against the United States and other Western targets.
Initially hesitant to become involved in the Syrian conflict, which pits an authoritarian regime led by President Bashar al-Assad against a patchwork of rebel groups, Obama has moved from sending weapons to opposition fighters last year, to backing away from airstrikes against al-Assad, to ordering Mondays campaign to take out ISIS terrorists who have used the Syrian unrest to gain a foothold.
Airstrikes: What you need to know
Its new ground for the U.S., which lacks robust intelligence capabilities in Syria and hasn't sent any ground forces there. Unlike the campaign against ISIS in Iraq, the U.S. doesnt have al-Assads permission to launch airstrikes in Syria, though the U.S. notified him before the attacks began.
The coalition strikes began the evening before Obama made his annual visit to the United Nations General Assembly, where the White House hopes to secure broader support for the anti-ISIS campaign from a range of allies.
The main focus, officials say, is on stemming the flow of foreign-born fighters who have joined up with ISIS and other terror groups in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. intelligence community believes there are 15,000 foreign fighters from 80 countries who are fighting alongside ISIS and other similar terror groups -- 2,000 from Europe and roughly 100 from the United States.
A senior administration official said on Monday that some of those Americans had already returned to the United States and were being tracked by the FBI. Not all of those who have returned were fighting for ISIS.
Most positive reaction to Syria airstrikes comes from Obama's critics
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Obama's path to air strikes