good morning, everybody. david shuster here at al jazeera headquarters in new york. you are looking at a live picture of the south lawn of the white house. the president is expected to travel to the united nations here in new york and talk about climate change, but first he is going to be stopping at that podium and speaking about the us-lead air strikes overnight on isil targets in syria. if you missed the news, the united states along with five arab coalition partners bombed at least a couple of dozen targets last night. the arab partners included saudi

arabia, jordan, the uae, and qatar. the pentagon is not providing many details this morning except to say that at least 14 different isil targets in eastern syria were struck, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey said eight were intended to try to disrupt what he described as imminent attack plotting. here is some of the video that the department of the defense released overnight of some of the tomahawk cruise missiles that were fired. the pentagon says at least 40 tomahawk cruise missiles were part of the initial volley of the attacks. as we wait for the president to talk about the details, let's bring in randall pinkston who is

live from the north lawn of the white house, and randall what are we expecting from the president? >> we expect the president to talk about the significance of the fact that a coalition of nations has joined with the u.s. in going after isil. the president said from the beginning that america would participate, but he wanted to make sure that other nations especially nations in the region would be involved. significantly, at least five of the nations that have been identified so far are from the gulf states. they are sunni major states, including qatar, the owner of our parent company, as well as saudi arabia, jordan, the united arab emirates, all of them participating against these radicals, calling them terrorists, saying their strikes were conducted against terrorists. isil has as we know slaughtered thousands of people, and

recently beheading americans, and an aid worker from the united kingdom, and threatening to continue more of that. president obama is going to continue his efforts to build a coalition. this past weekend the department of state issued a list of some 50 nations that are part of the coalition, but we don't know what each nation is providing. but the effort is to make sure it's a coalition of nations going after isil. >> a great deal of surprise and admiration last night when it was disclosed that there were five arab countries in this coalition. and perhaps it's a bit cynical to talk about politics, but he seems to have a unified support from both sides now. >> well, significantly, congress

is in recess now, and the leaders of congress have basically left it to the president to conduct this effort under his leadership as commander in chief, but some of the members of congress are also saying that they want to have more conversation, more debate about it, so after the elections, we expect that we will be hearing more from members of congress about exactly what they want the administration to do, setting goals and limits. at this point, however, the fact that you do have a coalition of nations, including arab nations participating in the strikes, indicates that american leadership is working. and the obama administration will continue to work on building the coalition when he goes to new york to chair the security council on wednesday. >> randall i wonder if the white house is adding anything to some of the details that came from martin dempsey. he described eight of the air strikes were aimed at what he

said were eminent plotting against the united states and western interests by al-qaeda affiliate. >> well, the attack against the al-qaeda group, those eight strikes were carried out only by the united states. so first on the part of a coalition, including gulf states directing their effort agains s against's -- isil, and then the u.s. going after the al-qaeda affiliate. they have set up a base in syria to do a number of things. first to build weapons. secondly to recruit westerners,

and the u.s. -- general dempsey as well as john kirby says what they were really doing were plotting a strike against western nations and possibly the u.s., a strike on u.s. soil as admiral dempsey put it this morning. so the eminence of that possibility, prompted the u.s. to target that al-qaeda affiliate in syria. >> we're going to ask randall to stand by. if you are just joining us, we're waiting for the president to come out and speak at the white house. we is going to provide some remarks about the us-lead air strikes overnight. let's bring in the former commander of u.s. central command. and first of all, your reaction to the news of these air strikes, and what you make of how they were carried out last night and the significance? >> well, i didn't have any

details at all, but not unexpected. the president said that he was going to target this group in syria, and it's -- i think certainly to be expected, their logistic support and most of their training, other facilities from my understanding are located in syria, so it wasn't going to be enough to do things in iraq. so i think it remains to be seen exactly what they went after. but if you are going to keep this group at balance it's essential that they be hit in their heartland and the places where they really have their center of gravity. >> i know saudi arabia and jordan have pretty sophisticated air forces, but tell us about some of the capabilities, for example, of the uae, bahrain, and qatar as far as assisting in

these strikes last night. >> i have no idea what they did. the air forces of the uae is very sophisticated. qatar also participated in some of the air activity over libya, so they have capabilities and experience. bahrain also. but one of the critical elements here is intelligence, knowing what to go after and how to get the background on those things is really important. so i think we'll have to wait and see. >> reporter: and generally in terms of the operations, is it a simple matter of the united states getting that information, sorting it out, and essentially saying to the saw saudis, and the uae, here is your target list? is it that simple? >> it is not simple at all when

you are dealing with coalitions, particularly ones you are not used to operating with. so if they were joint air strikes, it would have required a significant amount of planning. but once you get the pieces together and get it sorted out, the individual pilots ought to be pretty skilled at what they do, but the planning is typically very complex. >> there was some confusion last night and contrarian reporting about what sort of systems isil might have. the fact that the united states used tomahawk cruise missiles, does that suggest that perhaps isil may have gotten some of their hands on some of the surface to air missiles that syria had for all of those years? >> i'm not sure what they have. i would suspect they have shoulder mounted heat-seeking missiles, and i would also suspect as the planners looked at the targets they chose to

strike individual aim points with the best weapons. so you are probably seeing a mix of tomahawks and unmanned aerial vehicles, along with the strikement bomber and fighter aircraft, so i think they would ha ha have divvied it up. >> admiral thanks for joining us. we're going to swing it back to randall pinkston. we just got the two-minute warning that the president should come out. describe what we're expecting in the president's trip. how long is he going to be in new york? what is his primary mission? >> his primary mission is to chair the united nations security council. out there it all, whether he is in new york or the white louse, he is going to continue to try to build this coalition. we expect him to give a comment about the bipartisan support he

has and is receiving from democrats and republicans. both of whom who are on board with the president's plan. the unknown is what about the boots on the ground? because all of the military experts are saying that it is going to take troops on the ground ultimately to deal with isil. the president has said he does not intend to send american troops, so that means that coalition partners will have to kick in, ideally partners from the region, and no word on that yet. >> randall pinkston at the white house. and there is the president stepping up to the podium. so let's listen to the president of the united states. >> good morning, everybody. last night on my orders, america's armed forces began strikes against isil targets in syria. today the american people give thanks for the extraordinary

service of our men and women in uniform, including the pilots who flew these missions with the courage and professionalism that we have come to expect from the finest military the world has ever known. i outloaned our strategy to confront isil. i made clear that as part of this campaign, the united states would take action against targets in both iraq and syria, so that these terrorists can't find safe haven anywhere. and i made clear that america would act as part of a brood coalition, and that's exactly what we have done. we are joined by our friends and partners, saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, jordan, bahrain, and qatar. america is proud to standing shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. the strength of the coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not america's fight alone. above all the people and governments in the middle east

are rejecting isil, and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and world deserve. meanwhile, we will move forward with our plan supported by bipartisan majorities in congress to ramp up our effort to train and equip the syrian opposition who are the best counter weight to isil and the assad regime, and over 40 nations have offered to help to confront this terrorist threat, to take out terrorist targets, to train and equip iraqi and syrian opposition fighters who are going up against isil on the ground, to cut off isil's financing, to counter its hateful ideology, and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region. last night we also took strikes to disrupt plotting against the united states by seasoned al-qaeda operatives in syria. and once again, it must be clear

to anyone who would plot against america and try to do americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people. i have spoken to leaders in congress, and i'm pleased that there is bipartisan support for the actions we're taking. america is always stronger when we stand united. and that sends a powerful message to the world that we will do what is necessary to defenning our country. i'll have the opportunity to people with the prime minister of iraq and with friends and allies of the united nations to continue building support for the coalition confronting this serious threat to our peace and security. the overall effort will take time. there will be challenges ahead, but we're going to do what is necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group, for the security of the country, the region, and the entire world. thanks, god bless our troops. god bless america.

>> and president obama going back to the oval office briefly after remarks there on the south lawn. he named himself, the five arab nations that participated in the attacks. the president said americans are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these countries for our common security. the president provided some brief details about the part of the air strikes which went after what he described as seasoned al-qaeda operatives from the korasan group. this group has been in the mix of plots attacks against the u.s. he says the unity sends a powerful message to the world, and the united states will continue to do what is necessary to take the fight to isil. al jazeera's randall pinkston joins us live from the white house. your reaction?

>> it is obviously very significant that the president pointed out by name the arab states that participated in the initial air strikes, the first of what is expected to be many efforts. and also to the fact that he pointed out that the bipartizan majority in congress had supported his decision to provide $500 million to train and equip syrian rebels. it is also interesting, although we would not expect him to say anything about this, that he did not mention one of the players in this entire dynamic, that being iran. as we know, the u.s. did not seek and said that it would not want iran's involvement in the coalition. nonetheless, secretary of state john kerry has been involved in bilateral one on one discussions with iranian officials in new york. and it is expected that iran may be playing at least passive role

in assisting the iraqi government to fight off isil. another interesting fact that wasn't mentioned but we now know is the syrian government was informed about the strike. was it a courtesy or a way of telling syria, listen, we know you have an air defense system, and we will bement doing into your country, if you oppose us, we will take you down. that is one possibility that a military analyst suggested. so the u.s. did not strike specifically syrian targets but took on isil. the obama administration continues to call for the removal of bashar al-assad. it's a very complicated situation with a lot of moving pictures, a lot of enemies of enemies so to speak. and the u.s. will be treading a very difficult course as it tries to accomplish the mission paid out by president obama.

>> and randall so intriguing that you look at the one nato member that is in the region, turkey, did not participate at all, and yet you have these five arab sunni nations that did. >> turkey as you pointed out being a member of nato, which is of course the organization formed after world war ii lead by the united states and u.k. and other allies, turkey has only agreed to provide one nato air base in turkey for the delivery of humanitarian supplies, nothing to do with the military. most recently of course, turkey had a number of hostages who were released by isil, with a great fanfare, not a shot being fired and allegedly no funds being paid. was there a side deal between turkey and isil saying if you let our people go, we'll stay

out of the fight, we don't know. we also know turkey has been a transit point of borders adjacent to syria for the in flow and out flow of fighters and supplies. will anything be done to stop isil from having that free-flow of movement. so as i said, complicated, a lot of moving parts and disparate interests, shall we say. >> randall as we look at the pictures of the president and his aids boarding marine one and flying up to new york. i wonder if there is any sense, perhaps of some relief among those close to the president given that he has gotten a lot of criticism over the iraq policy -- and by the way they are carrying some of these bags and suitcases in part because the president is going to be there for a couple of days. but he got a lot of criticism even from members from congress,

secretary kerry, and secretary hagel, and then all of a sudden, these five countries are joining the coalition. and that is helping the president in a lot of ways this morning. >> well, many are saying he should have done this sooner. there are also experts who said there would not be striked in this syria. but a military analyst told us this morning that in point of fact they must have already had the targets identified. that the u.s. was a lot further along in deciding what they were going to do in syria before he made the speech because you can't plan this kind of operation coordinating with military units that you normally don't work with, you couldn't have done it this quickly. so the administration obviously has been keeping its cards close to the vest, and not revealing

what it was going to do until the point that it was ready to do it, and this morning we saw the beginning of what is expected to be what the president says will be a lengthy operation. >> randall pinkston from the north lawn of the white house where you can now hear the blast of the rotors on the south lawn of marine one where the president is heading to new york for the u.n. meetings in the next couple of days. the president is going to be talking about global climate change at about 12:30, 12:45. we will be taking that live. joining us now is general kemmet. on the last point of knowing about these targets in advance and having the intel for sometime. does that sound about right to you?

>> it really does. there has been active planning going on by the air target officers on this operation for some time. >> how difficult is it when you have the information and targets to then essentially provide that information to the coalition aircraft to make sure they are staying on their mission, that they have the proper mission, and you don't have some confusion as these air strikes are carried out. >> i heard an admiral talk about the complications and he is absolutely right. my suspicion is there has been an air operation center formed for this specific purpose. so this type of coordination has not just been done exclusively by the united states but those partner nations who have been participating alongside of us in those strikes have been actively part of the planning, and probably helped a lot in providing the intelligence which lead to these targets? the >> are you surprised that the information didn't leak when you

are talking about saudi arabia, jordan, uae, and qatar, and for that not to leak until the strikes were underway, were you surprised? >> i really was. and i was pleased to see that. it tells me the planning has been done in a fairly tight control, and for political purposes it probably is helpful that we were seen to be attacking as a general coalition, that not only helps the individual countries involved, but the collective effort being sursued by the world against isil right now. >> can you tell us what is going on over at the pentagon and other agencies today as they try to assess the success of last night, and how quickly do they then turn that information around for the next round of air strikes and missile attacks? >> it's a very methodical

process, and it's happening in the field, at the headquarters in qatar, jordan and other places. this is known as a post-strike analysis phase, where they are taking a look. they are probably sending reconnaissance aircraft, uav's possibly satellite intelligence to take a look at the damage that has been inflicted, and based on the situation on the ground and what they see from the post strike analysis, they could be deciding to go after separate targets, these targets again, or a second set of targets which are the next on the line of the target list. >> were you surprised by the tempo? the tempo, much more intensefied than over the last couple of weeks. were you surprised at all? >> not at all. this goes to the professionalism of the united states military,

and their ability to work with their allies. the air force and navy have been doing this since 9/11 almost continuously, and have been doing it for decades. this is practiced. this is rehearsed. this is done on a daily basis in afghanistan, and i believe it goes back to what the president said about the most professional military in the world. >> a lot of folks say in order to be successful, that military is going to have to put troops on the ground. and you can quibble about what they actually means, but in order to carry out these kinds of air strikes, safe to assume that there had to have been, perhaps some kind of human intelligence on the ground to help guide in and figure out where these targets are? >> well, i don't want to

speculate on that. if i knew, i wouldn't be telling, because if we do have coalition soldiers on the ground from any country, i don't think we need to put them at risk by announcing that over television. >> fair point. and as far as where this goes from here, do you expect to see the operations continue again tonight for the next several days, does it take a pause, where do you see this going? >> oh, i think it is going to be continuous. this is the first time i have heard the president say that there is active plotting against the united states. that indicates to me that the situation perhaps is a bit graver in syria than has been painted to this point. there has been some debate about whether isil is a direct threat to the united states now, potentially could be in the future, potentially could be to the region. but when the president of the united states says there was active plotting against the united states, and that was

justification for going against the group, it would suggest that the situation was a bit more grave than the american people have been told to this point. >> all right. we're going to pick up on that after this break. we'll continue after this.

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first

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♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. david david in new york. you are looking at live pictures now of andrews air force base. that is marine one. the president spoke about the us-lead air strikes other night on islamic state -- targets in syria. the president named the countries that participated. the president said the united states and americans are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder for our common security. a little more information is tarting to come in about the depth and in -- intensity of the

air strikes. at least two dozen targets were hit, including eight air strikes that were described as an an attack against emnext -- 'em next plotting against the united states. and so the planning had been far enough along that the u.s. decided not to take any chances, and while they were coming isil, they decided to go after this other group that is an al-qaeda operative. the president is going to speaking at the united stat united states -- united nations today, and we'll give a speech

tomorrow on the terrorists that threaten worldwide security. as we look again at the president -- well, you can't see the helicopter now, but it is going to come around air force one, but just a spectacular day in washington. and a remarkable news day as well. the pentagon at this point with obvious help from reconnaissance aircraft, and the imagery coordinating today. more than 40 tomahawk cruise missiles were fired. and coordinated air attacks for ive arab nations, this is the first time i believe since the 1991 gulf war when you have this coalition of five sunni arab nations working with the united states to target another arab nation. back in 1991 it was iraq and the

war against saadam hussein. and again, to have these same arab partners now targeting syria, this is not something that happens very often. and a major surprise to a lot of members of congress who just 48 hours ago were criticizing the president's plan and saying that the united states would be doing this largely alone. the president and michelle obama, the first lady, again, headed to new york. and just to provide a little bit of an update about what isment coming, the pentagon is expected to provide more details about a half an hour from now in the news briefing room that will provide a few more details about the attacks. the responsibilities carried by each of the nations. we will of course bring that to you live when that happens. and the president at 12:45 will

be changing topics, and speaking about climate change. but you can expect because of the briefings from the pentagon and the state department, a lot of information that will still be filled in over the next couple of hours about these air strikes, specifically the military responsibilities of saudi arabia and jordan which have aircraft that have been working with the united states before most recently in libya, also the contributions of the united arab emirates, bahrain, and qatar. the second iraq war was based at an air base just outside of doha, qatar. so the relationship with qatar goes back many years, and qatar provided a base in the second iraq war that saudi arabia did not want to provide. so interesting relationships between these countries. the president said this morning

some 40 nations have made offers of one kind or another to help. but as far as the kinetic, as the pentagon likes to say, military attacks this consists of the united states, uae, bahrain, saudi arabia, and qatar. we have heard given the end tensity of the attacks and the choreography that these had to have been targets that the administration and the pentagon had worked on for some time. that this was a plan that had been worked on for several weeks. but it did come of something as a surprise to members of congress. the president's staff began briefing members of congress after the attacks were underway. the president made a phone call to joan boehner and harry reid.

and calls to mitch mcconnell, and also, of course, nancy pelosi, the democratic leader in the house, chairman of the defense committees all came out with statements. they had all been briefed about the operation. again, the president walking up to air force one. this will be a short trip to new york where he will speak later this morning, but you can also detect, perhaps, a sense of relief from the white officials and maybe even from the president's body language this morning that a lot of members of congress did not see this coalition coming. they knew the administration had been working very hard of trying to build this coalition. a lot of members of congress thought if the arab countries participated it would only be with humanitarian assistance. but the president got arab assistance from five sunni nations, the first time in a long time that the u.s. has lead

a coalition to essentially bomb another arab country. as we watch air force one here, let's go ahead and replay for you, the three minutes from this morning when the president stepped out of the oval office, walked up to the podium, and talked about the strikes last night and the us-lead coalition. let's listen. >> last night on my orders, america's armed forces began strikes against isil targets in syria. today the american people give thanks for the extraordinary service of our men and women in uniform, including the pilots who flew these missions with the courage and professionalism that we have come to expect from the finest military the world has ever known. earlier i outlined our strategy to confront the threat posed by the terrorist group known as isil. i made clear that the

united states would take actions in iraq and syria so these terris can't find safe haven anywhere. i also made clear that america would act as part of a brood coalition, and that's what we have done. we were joined in the action by saudi arabia, the united arab emirates, jordan, bahrain, and qatar. america is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations. the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not america's fight alone. above all the people and governments of the middle east are rejecting isil, and standing up for the peace and security that the people in the region and the world deserve. meanwhile we will move forward with our plan supported by bipartisan majority in congress to ramp up and train the syrian opposition who with the best counter weight to isil and the

assad regime. and more broadly over 40 nations have offered to help to cob front this terrorist threat, to take out terrorist targets, to train and equip iraqi and syrian opposition fighters who are going up against isil on the ground, to cut off isil's financing, to counter its hateful ideology, and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region. last night we also took strikes to disrupt plotting against the united states and our allies by seasoned al-qaeda operatives in syria. and once again it must be clear to anyone who would plot against america and try to do americans harm that we will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten our people. i have spoken to leaders in congress, and i'm pleased that there is bipartisan support. america is always stronger when we stand united.

and that sends a powerful message to the rest of the world. i'll have the opportunity to meet with the prime minister of iraq and with friends and allies at the united nations to continue building support for the coalition that is confronting this threat to global peace and security. we're going to do what is necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world. and that was president obama about 30 minutes ago on the south lawn of the white house. again this has been an historic 24 hours both for this presidency but also for u.s. foreign policy, because these air strikes are the first time in 24 years, 24 years that the united nations has lead a coalition of arab countries to bomb territories of another arab country. you have to go back to 1991 and the first gulf war to see

anything like it. and again, the president specifically naming those countries saudi arabia, uae, bahrain, jordan, and qatar. the president saying the united states is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations. and rolling along the tarmac now, the president is headed to the united nations. this will no doubt be a huge topic of discussion as he meets with foreign leaders both at the united nations and also perhaps talks with the clintons at the clinton global initiative, and talking about climate change, and a very big speech about administration efforts to try to track the influx of fighters going to join isil. big speech coming tomorrow. there will be a pentagon briefing perhaps within a half hour that will provide more details. but as the president flies to new york, reports from inside

syria are hard to come by about what exactly happened last night. the closest we can get is from nearby border crossings. sue filed this report at the iraq/syria border. >> reporter: just a couple of seconds ago we could hear more jets in the sky. we have no idea whether they are dropping their payload in this area or not, but they seemed to be flying quite low. we are also seeing smoke to my left right now. we know that that crossing is held on the other side by the pyd's fighting on the syrian kurds and on this side by isil fighters. this front line is the closest the peshmerga forces are getting. we can make out some of the positions. we just saw isil raising a flag

in one of the positions there. there was fighting overnight last night, but since that enormous aerial bombardment just across the border, it has been very quiet. and the fighters here are wondering if this segme segmesegmen segment -- stagnant stalemate has anything to do with the strikes. they were talking on the phone and explaining what the intelligence understands as to how the bombing campaign is this part of syria has worked out. certainly there has been a lot hit in the oil town outside 80 to 100 kilometers inside of iraq, and to the north of us here, one of the main towns as a

sort of through road to morocco, that town comes across the border into iraq, that has also been hit. we were talking to the syrian kurds, and they were saying there was quite a lot of fighting in that up to. the big fear here is if they didn't put them down, the direct route will be open as a direct crossing. so it seems that what the air strikes have been trying to do at least in this part of the region is to cut off that direct route so supplies can't get through. and there is another picture of air force one. the president is about to take off and fly to new york to kennedy airport. he will come from kennedy to downtown new york to manhattan for a speech later this afternoon to the united nations. a remarkable thing about air

force one, once they close the door and the president is inside, literally it moves. there is no stopping at the end of the runway, it goes to the end of the rupway and takes off. and there is the live picture. simply a imaginestic thing to behold, and perhaps a very symbolic one for the obama administration today. the image of power they are hoping to portray to the rest of the world as the president leads these air strikes against isil in syria. when the news officially came out that the united states has been joined by the five arab countries. there is much that they will be talking about as more details come. but in the meantime the president is on his way to new york. three and a half days in new york city talking with global leaders, talking with the

clintons at the clinton global ip initiative. we're going to take a quick break, and on the other side we'll have the latest from beroute, what the reaction is there to the air strikes.

>> the death toll could be much higher than anyone known. >> posing as a buyer... >> ...people ready then... >> mr. president >> who should answer for those people

welcome back to al jazeera america. david shuster here. you are looking at a live picture at the east side of manhattan. the president is headed there for a speech to talk about global climate change, and the president is also going to be delivering a major speech tomorrow at the u.n. on us-lead efforts to try to stop the fighters of isil. and no doubt the president's coalition that he was able to form will be a huge topic of

conversation in the halls. the president -- well, we're going to get more details about the attacks last night from the pentagon. the pentagon briefing is expected in about the next 15 minutes. and when that happens we will bring it to you live. a lot of details still to be filled in. beyond the more general reporting that the arab countries participated in the air strikes in some fashion whether refuelling aircraft or using their own american-made f16s that they have in their arsenal. but we're still trying to pick up more information of what happened inside syria. and there is some information from syrian activists who are saying that civilian areas were badly damaged in last night's strikes. zana reports. >> reporter: we have been speaking to syrians on the ground, activists, people at the

site of the attack, and filmed it actually, and they told us this is the work of the u.s. military. they are blaming the u.s. government. there is anger there. they are saying that civilians were killed. but we also understand that there was a base close by. was this a mistake? it's very hard for us to independently confirm. the defense department issued a statements there was a strike in this area, but according to them, they targeted the horazan movement, which is an al-qaeda movement. air power, of course, we know it has its limitations, but if we're going to hear more and more about civilian casualties this is going to cause a lot of anger. why is the obama administration targeting isil and not the assad government which has been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths over the

last few years. for the u.s. it is very important to show that it is not fighting isil alone, because this might be interpreted that this is a war against muslims and sunnis in particular. it will need the support of sunni ally states. they need to throw their weight because they will need this kind of political cover. isil really is a growing threat not just in iraq and syria. other countries in the region as well, lebanon included. so the united states really needs this political cover, but more importantly it is going to need partners on the ground, and if it doesn't have partners on the ground it can't win this war. in syria who can it rely on? the moderate forces are almost non-existent. they are fighting a war on two battle fronts. they have been weekended and they don't see the syrian government as a legitimate

partner. >> it's difficult sometimes to provide human ill tell against to go into air strikes like last night. and there is always the risk of civilian casualties. one of the most precise weapons the u.s. military has are these tomahawk cruise missiles more than 40 were fired last night. and john terrett joins us with more on that. >> one of the things we know with great certainly is they fired 47 tomahawk cruise missiles. what happened was there were five partner arab nations, sunni arab nations who participated in the air strikes last night, and they are all sunni arab countries. that's a very important take away. the u.s. military and the president has said they are jordan, saudi, bahrain, and the united arab emirates. these four are all playing a

very active role in the fight. they could be providing everything from intelligence to war planes and other kinds of military hardware. what about qatar which of course owns al jazeera, we are told they are playing an active role. the details of how these countries are involved, we'll learn more about. so stay with us. but as for the attack, it's a, as i said 47 tomahawk cruise missiles were fired last night. we are seeing some of those missiles in action in video that has been coming in. this is pretty impressive stuff right here, as you can see. up until this moment, the u.s. has not yet used this kind of weapon in the fight against isil

in iraq. the tomahawk is 18 feet long. it carries a 1,000-pound war head. and they are used to hit stationary targets with incredit l precision. there were also several fighter jets, bombers and drones, we know that. there may have been other countries sending aircraft in as well. but i can tell you all of the aircraft involved in last night's attackser runned to their bases safely. >> it's significant, five sunni arab nations participating. explain how important that is. >> isil was born because noral maliki was very reluctant to involve sunnis in its

government. this resulted in this terrible group. but you must remember that isil is a sunni organization. it has its roots in sunni culture, and if you see five arab nations getting involved with the united states, particularly one of the u.s.'s great partner countries saudi arab arabia, but also jordan, that sends an extra message to isil that the west and the rest of the world is serious about stopping them. >> thank you very much. on that point, the message that is sent to isil, what do you make of it, and how significant is that aspect of this war, the idea that hey, these are sunnis that are also going after you. >> well, i think we may be making the point a bit too fine that we have five sunni nations. if fact we have 40-plus nations.

and that is as much to demonstrate that this is not isil against the united states. but isil represents a threat to bagdad, syria, and the entire region and world. so, isolating simply those five arab partners, those five sunni partners i think diminishes the contributions being provided by those 35 other countries. >> as far as the military aspect, we have heard some 30,000 fighters, 20,000 that isil has in syria. do we know what kind of equipment and technology they have that they are bring to bare as they try to either strike back against coalition aircraft or wreck havoc in this the region? >> well, as was said by an earlier contribute for, i think

what need to be most worried about is whether they have obtained any surface to air missiles that can be used against aircraft in either syria or iraq. other than that, they have heavy machine guns, light sub machine guns, they don't have large amounts of artillery or tanks. they have done some pretty good videos, suggesting that they captured large volumes of armored vehicles from the iraqis, but they really don't have the training to use them. they can be used on a case by case basis. the real strength is in numbers and radiology, the conviction, their willingness to die for their cause, but in terms of a heavy industrial type of military, with tanks, armored aircraft, they just don't have that. >> general thanks for joining us. we're going to take another

break and have more news at the top of the hour. our coverage continues on the other side of this. you are watching al jazeera america.

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. david shuster here at our headquarters in new york. you are looking at a live picture of the pentagon press briefing. they are going to come out and offer details on the air strikes last night in syria. the president talked about the arab countries that were involved. we're waiting for details about exactly what their contribution was last night. but in the meantime let's get the latest from randall pinkston who joins us livero