WORLD_ Syria airstrikes disrupted planned terror attacks

Syria airstrikes disrupted planned terror attacks

Jim Michaels and Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY 7:30 p.m. EDT September 23, 2014

The director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff said U.S. airstrikes in Syria targeted the Khorasan group, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group believed to have been in the end stages of planning an attack on the West. VPC


WASHINGTON — The airstrikes Monday in Syria disrupted major terror attacks planned against U.S. and Western targets, Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday.

The Khorasan group, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terror organization, had established training camps in Syria and had been developing improvised explosive devices for use in attacks.

The airstrikes hit their camp, said Army Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and assessment of the damage is underway.

Khorasan was "nearing the execution phase" of attacks against European or American targets, Mayville said.

Last week, James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, said the group posed a more direct threat to targets in the USA than Islamic State fighters did.

Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the government had been tracking the group "for some time. ... We believe that attack planning was imminent."

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, alerted the Syrian government about the attacks on targets on Syrian soil, Rhodes said.

The Khorasan group had "clear ambitions to launch external operations against the United States," Rhodes said. "We see this very much as an extension of the threat posed by al-Qaeda and their associated forces."

Rhodes said Syria was "certainly unable" to counter the threat, suggesting that cleared the United States to act on the Khorasan front.

The airstrikes mounted by U.S. and Arab warplanes against terrorists in Syria kicked off "a sustainable and credible" campaign that could last for years, Mayville said.

"Last night's strikes were only the beginning," Kirby said.

"It is not possible to know the duration of these deployments and operations," President Obama said in a notification to Congress on Tuesday under the War Powers Act.

The initial assault came in three waves.

The first was launched from sea. Cruise missiles were followed by waves of U.S. and Arab bombers and fighters. For the first time, the U.S. Air Force used its stealthy and expensive F-22 fighter in combat, Mayville said.

Obama gave the orders for the strikes the day after he visited U.S. Central Command in Tampa last week, Rhodes said. The timing of the strikes was not dictated by the United Nations meetings in New York this week.

Most of the bombs were dropped by U.S. warplanes, Mayville said, but he did not offer details.

There were no U.S. combat troops on the ground in Syria to help coordinate the airstrikes, Mayville said.

Islamic State fighters will probably change their tactics after the coalition attack, Mayville said.

"They are very well-funded," he said. "They are a learning organization, and they will adapt to what we have done and seek to address their shortfalls and gaps against our air campaign in the coming weeks."

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