US and allies strike ISIL targets in Syria

US says bombers, fighter jets and cruise missiles deployed, as Jordan becomes first Arab nation to confirm involvement. The United States has said it and its allies have begun bombing positions held by ISIL in Syria, the first such attacks since forming a coalition to confront the group. The attacks began at about 00.30 GMT on Tuesday, with the first wave of about 20 strikes taking about 90 minutes. Other waves were expected in the coming hours. "I can confirm that US military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk land attack missiles," a spokesman for the department of defence said. "The decision to conduct theses strikes was made earlier today by the US central command commander under authorisation granted him by the commander in chief. We will provide more details later as operationally appropriate." The US did not confirm what was targeted, but reports on social media stated that areas of Raqqa - the ISIL stronghold in Syria - were hit.  Tens of ISIL fighters were killed or wounded in the strikes on Raqqa and surrounding areas, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a network of activists on the ground. "More than 20 members of ISIL were killed in strikes on two of the organisation's positions in Raqqa province. The strikes completely destroyed the two positions as well as vehicles stationed there," the monitoring group said. Damascus notified Syria's foreign ministry said Damascus had been informed by Washington about the imminent airstrikes. "The Americans had informed the Syrian representative at the United Nations that strikes would be carried out against the terrorist IS organisation in Raqa" in the north of the country, said the ministry, according to state television. Jordan's minister of information and communication, Mohamamd Al Momani, confirmed his country participated in the strikes. Momani said the airstrikes would continue in the coming period and that four countries were involved in the operation, including Jordan. The minister said Jordan participated to strike "terrorism in its home in order to protect Jordan's security and stability and to prevent terrorism from reaching the kingdom". The AP quoted an unnamed official as saying the strikes were conducted by the US, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE. Official US statements have not mentioned those allies by name. The attacks come just two weeks after the US formed a coalition to confront the ISIL group, which has taken over large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a "caliphate". The coalition includes Nato, non-members including Australia and Arab nations. The US president, Barack Obama, said on September 10 that an expanded campaign would degrade and ultimately destroy the group. The attacks also come a day after ISIL's spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, called on supporters of the group to attack foreigners wherever they are. In a 43-minute video, Adnani said: "If you can kill a disbelieving American or European - especially the spiteful and filthy French - or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon God, and kill him in any manner.'' Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said the timing of the coalition's attacks must been seen in the context of ISIL's announcement. "This was a doctrinal shift by ISIL, previously they maintained they weren't at war with the US and its allies and that their key goal was to strengthen the caliphate." John Cantlie video ISIL released another video on Tuesday that appears to show British journalist John Cantlie criticising preparations for US-led attacks on the group, the SITE monitoring service reported. ISIL has already executed two US journalists and one British aid worker in recent weeks in what it said was reprisal for US air strikes against it in Iraq. In the five-minute video, the hostage identified as Cantlie suggested Obama, long careful to avoid the sort of conflicts his predecessor George Bush pursued, was being sucked into a war he could not win, SITE reported. "The president once called George Bush's Iraq conflict a "dumb war," and couldn't wait to distance America from it when he came into power. Now he's being inextricably drawn back in," the man identified as Cantlie says. The man, wearing an orange shirt and his hair closely cropped, describes ISIL as the "most powerful jihadist movement seen in recent history", adding it could not be greatly harmed by US politicians calling it "awful" or "vile". The video appeared to have been recorded before the US-led airstrikes overnight in Syria.