Stage set for US air strikes on IS militants in Syria
South East Asia Post Tuesday 26th August, 2014
• No clarity on US plans in Syria
• White House refuses to give details
• Wants clearer picture of militant targets
WASHINGTON - Setting a stage for possible air attacks on Islamic State militants in Syria, the United States Tuesday reportedly began carrying out secret aerial surveillance in the country that is beset with deadly Islamist armed rebellion.
President Barack Obama earlier gave a nod for US spy planes to carryout secret operations in Syria which experts said was a necessary operation before conducting air attacks on targets of the Islamic State, the Sunni Islamist groups that rules parts of Syria and Iraq.
The Associated Press cited an unnamed US official saying that the flights had begun.
The operation by spy planes will help in gathering information on potential targets for strikes in Syria if President Barack Obama approves.
Most of the American media reported Monday that President Obama had already cleared the use of air force against IS targets in Syria. The Islamist militant group claims to have created an Islamic caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq which it has occupied.
US jets have already bombed many of the group's targets in Iraq and it was not known definitely that the operation may be expanded to Syria.
The White House Tuesday also did not discuss details of intelligence operations in Syria, but made clear the US was not cooperating with the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.
"As a matter of US policy, we have not recognized" Assad as the leader in Syria, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Earnest spoke as the president traveled to Charlotte to give a speech to a veterans group.
"There are no plans to change that policy and there are no plans to coordinate with the Assad regime"
General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also refused to confirm or deny the reports of US operation in Syria.
He however said the military wanted a clearer picture of the IS militants operating in Syria.
"Clearly the picture we have of ISIS on the Iraqi side is a more refined picture," Dempsey said, referring to the group by one of its acronyms.
"The existence and activities of ISIS on the Syrian side we have some insights into that but we certainly want more insights into that as we craft a way forward."
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