well p not only here in the united states but around the world. our coverage of the air strikes in syria now continues now with cnn's becky anderson in abu dhabi and errol barnett at the cnn center in atlanta. i'm don lemon. >> i'm alisyn camerota. thanks for joining us. good night. don and allison, thank you both very much. a big welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm becky anderson. thank you for joining us for ou news of the u.s. air strikes in syria. the u.s. and at least five other arab nations are participating in air strikes over isis targets in the syrian city of raqqah.

let me get you a map up. that's the capital of the islamic state. an official tells cnn the new offensive began with tomahawk missiles launched at sea followed by bombers. we're covering this story for you from more angles. cnn's chief u.n. security correspondent jim sciutto is in washington, and anna coren is n inni in erbil. >> i'm told by multiple u.s. military officials tonight that the start of this strike meant to be a decisive blow, going at key targets of isis.

targets in the category of command and control as well as re-supply and training. hard targets. they're going after training facilities, places where weapons were stored. ammunition, also where fighters and commanders might have been holed up for the night. this starting at nighttime over syria and it is still continuing, i'm told, until daybreak there when we get an update on the exact number of targets and nature of targets hit. as you mentioned, five arab partners taking part. the u.s. the only non-arab entity taking part. the u.s. was intent on building, not making this a lone intervention but one that it was joined by local partners. and you have those local partners, saudi arabia, jordan, qatar and bahrain. and to be clear, the participation i'm told at least

by three of those partners is in kinetic activities, that means dropping bombs. not supporting them but taking part in those air strikes. that is extremely significant. this is just the first night. i'm told that this will continue, perhaps not at the same pace that we've seen tonight and intensity, perhaps settling into more of the pace that we've seen in the u.s.-led air campaign over iraq which is now in its sixth week. but this is the first very decisive step, you might say, in what promises to be a long campaign. i've reached out to members of the syrian opposition and i've heard from the syrian opposition very strong support, one official telling me thank you, thank you. this is something we've been waiting for for so long. remember, this is an administration that did not take the advice of some of the president's own advisers to get

involved in this conflict earlier, to arm some of the moderate syrian rebels. hillary clinton, leon panetta had pushed for that. this president had refused. now you have the president doing both of those things, one, arming the rebels, but now striking isis from the air. >> let's consider who these arab partners are. you are absolutely right that until the u.s. got these arab partners involved in this coalition of the willing, things were going to be potentially very difficult out here. you've got saudi, the largest and most influential. abu dhabi. we do know that the uae is hosting australian jets and with a view to get into the theater of war. jordan of course which has incredibly good intelligence gathering and importantly, sitting right on the cusp of any

spillover from isis into their very own country. and then you've got bahrain. i think you and i might also just flag the fact that qatar is involved, the country that flew its own jets over libya in 2011 as part of the coalition of the willing there. there has been a rift between qatar and its neighbors of late. but it does seem they are, they have command-and-control, cent-com from the u.s. in qatar and it looks as if they are on board. so i think we agree just how important it is that these arab nations make up the coalition of the willing. you say it's very unclear at this moment how long this goes on. what else are you getting from washington at this point? >> one thing, it will be long. because they know that air power is powerful, but it's limited. and we've seen it in iraq, six weeks of strikes there, whale it has held back, they have hell back isis advances on baghdad

and erbil, those ground strikes, 120,000 kurd irk peshmerga fighters, some 200,000 or more iraqi fighters, even with that ground presence and u.s.-led air strikes, that combination has been unable to gain back any territory in iraq. the u.s. talking about training ju just 5,000 fighters there, and that could take a year. that tells you how long it might be necessary for the u.s. and its partners here to keep up the pressure from the air as you gain back some territory. another note i would make about the arab participation. you make that very gad point. qatar hosts a u.s. air embasbas. jordan, there's a great u.s. presence there in terms of

intelligence sharing, et cetera. to have those countries do an offensive operation inside another arab country, that's a big step to take to fly your planes over another sovereign arab nation and drop bombs on that arab nation. that's a tremendous step forward. it's a tribute, frankly, to the coalition-building that the obama administration has done. but it also puts those countries at something of a risk. because as you know better than me, becky, a lot of the arab street is uncomfortable when you have western countries bombing targets inside their land and to see their own countries flying flights alongside the americans is a difficult thing for the people there to swallow. >> absolutely right. and as we do more digging this morning, it will become clearer exactly how these countries are involved. jim, for the timing, thank you for that. let's get to you the region. anna coren joins pea from erbil

in iraq. and we've been talking about the ground forces that these air strikes are there to support. paint a picture for us if you will of exactly who is on the ground and what the logistics of fighting in that region are. >> reporter: well certainly here in the iraq, the ground forces are here, the peshmerga and iraqi forces, but on the ground in syria, as we know, it's been the militia and the syrian opposition. so this is how the forces, what they comprise of. here in iraq, certainly, the forces have been making incremental advances. i think that's fair to say. we're not talking about re-claiming a whole lot of territory. there have been more than 186 u.s. air strikes today since that air campaign began if this country more than six weeks ago. certainly, there have been calls for an intensification. and this is what we've been

hearing from the kurdish regional government. we just got this statement from the foreign relations head who is currently at the united nations general assembly in new york saying this is a very important step in this war against isis. they have been calling for air strikes in syria for weeks, because they know if you don't go after the safe haven, the sanctuary of isis, then the rest of this is just a futile exercise. he also says it shows that there's an international coalition that is fighting isis, makes the task easier. but he does hope that we will see an intensification of the air campaign here in iraq. i think the one criticism, becky, is that it's been rather piecemeal. it will take out some artillery and enemy position, a convoy of armored vehicles, but you are not seeing, necessarily, isis retreating the way that perhaps many people would perceive. so it's affecting the way that they are operating on the battle

ground, but it is also forcing them to adapt, becky, and this is what we are seeing. >> anna, stay with me. i want to get our viewers just a little bit more on raqqah now, a city about 160 compliments east of aleppo in syria. once home to some 200,000 people. many have now fled. and we've been hearing this story over the past 24 to 48 hours. hundreds of thousands of people leaving this region at least, moving up into turkey, many of them, after isis took control of raqqah in january of this year, turning it into their unofficial home base. since then, activists say isis has run raqqah like a police state, controlling everything from power to water and schools and banks. isis officials said to be patrolling the streets. there's a dress code for women, smoking and drinking alcohol are

banned. anyone who violates isis' version of the law is punished and public executions have become a daily occurrence. that is the area where we are in the ongoing process of u.s. air strikes. my colleague, errol barnett picking up. >> a fantastic break down from the rae john. one of the things that really made isis stand out is the horrific way in which they have forced people to support their campaign. u.s. president barack obama had long resisted military action in syria, but it was earlier this month when barack obama announced he was ready to go after isis, wherever they are. that, of course, now including syria. let's bring in jim acosta. he's been tracking all of this from washington, d.c. we talked about isis and its beheadings. of course there were the beheadings of two american journalists as well as one

british journalist earlier this month that possibly changed the calculation. from what you can tell, what changed the calculation to get the u.s. on board this time, and now that we know it's happening, happening now as far as we understand, what is the reaction there in d.c.? >> well, the senior administration officials i've been talking to at the white house sort of dispute this notion that the beheadings accelerated the timetable for carrying out the air strikes in syria, but i will tell you that those officials have also said that those killings have at the same time galvanized public opinion, not only in the united states, but around the world for some sort of stepped-up action. so you're seeing the united states respond with that. i also want to point out, while there's all this focus on raqqah, we did speak to an official in the last hour or so who said not only are sites in raqqah being hit, but there are sites outside of raqqah being hit as well.

in terms of the timetable, i'm being told that this timetable is not yet defined and that this operation could be going on for some time. we should get some clear guidance as to how long this is going to last. speaking of timetables, the president is conducting these air strikes along with these air partners at a critical diplomatic time for him as he's heading the united nations later on tomorrow morning. he's heading up to the united nations to talk about building this coalition. he also wants to talk about the topic of foreign fighters. so i was curious as to whether or not this was a sensitive diplomatic time for air strikes to be brought into syria, and a senior u.s. official said that's not necessarily the case. the targets they're going after are hard targets of critical significance when it comes to the isis threat. they're going avatar gets that are really hitting isis where it hurts. the other thing we also want to point out, errol is that the president has been sort of

issuing this threat in the last week or so that if syria's president bashar al-assad were to intervene that there would be some sort of u.s. response against his air defense forces. we can tell you from talk from a senior defense official that assad's forces have not interfered this evening. so from every imaginable step you can look at, when it comes to this operation, it appears at this point that things have been carried out successfully. but i do want to caution that from talking to oo senior u.s. official the last several minutes, this operation is ongoing. >> jim acosta live for us from washington, d.c. as you've been speaking, we've been looking at this map which breaks down for our viewers where the air strikes have been. you see a number of locations in iraq, the kurdish region where u.s. forces have helped push isis back from mosul. that was a major hydroelectric

dam there that the militants had controlled for a time before being pushed back. one of the many locations the u.s. has helped on the iraqi side. but now this early morning, the news that the u.s. has conducted air strikes in syria around raqqah. they are ongoing. we understand they may not be confined just to raqqah. they could take place in other areas as well. you're watching cnn's global resources we have a correspondent on the border with syria. we have people in the uae and in key locations as we track this still developing story on cnn. stay with us. we're going to connect with our correspondents and get a break down from military analysts on this strike after this short break.

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when i go out there, flip the switch and get their power back on, there's a great sense of satisfaction. for our viewers around the world, you join us live from the gulf. i'm becky anderson in the uae. an update on our breaking news. the start ofary strikes against isis in syria. these attacks open a whole new front in the bloody battle against this group of sunni extremists who've long treated syria as a safe haven. these strikes began with tomahawk missiles launched from the sea. then came the bomber and fighter jets. they began bombing the syrian city of raqqah an isis stronghold, just a short time

ago. we're live out of the gulf tonight as the strikes have begun. activists say the targets that were hit include part of the governor's compound, a recruitment center and a post office. strikes expected to last for hours. they are focused on raqqah, but a senior official says other locations were struck. no word on casualties and no response from syrian forces. saudi arabia, bahrain, the uae and jordan are participating in this strike as well as qatar. its role, though, is not yet clear. for more perspective is a naval analyst for the study of war. thank you for joining us, as you look at the map of the region where we are today and you consider where the u.s. assets are, what do you believe is going on and how? >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be with you.

i'll tell you. one of the most interesting things about this attack, in the early stages, at least, is that it was led with cruise missiles. i think that surprised a lot of analysts, myself included. i did not expect cruise missile strikes here because i did not believe that the isis defenses warranted a cruise missile strike. but obviously they saw some targets that were worthy of cruise missiles. these are big, these are expensive and typically only fired at heavy, static targets. so it looks like the attack aircraft followed a strike led by the cruise missiles. so apparently isis had some air defenses that they were worried about. the secretary distinguishing characteristic is the breadth of this attack. this is larger than anything we've seen so far as opposed to what's happened in iraq. and finally, we've got a

coalition here, a fairly broad coalition of arab states participating with the american effort here. >> that's right. and as we speak, i mean, this region will be waking up to the news and the images that we're seeing on our screens, saudis, the uae, bahrain, qatar. let's talk about some of these, and what do you expect the involvement from, for example saudi to be? >> well, saudi arabia is a key ally of the u.s., not just in terms of the aircraft they bring to the fight or the military capabilities they bring to the fight, but the logistics and the intelligence. one of the big shortcomings the u.s. military has is intelligence. the u.s. is a leader in signals and intercepting e-mail and internet traffic. the u.s. is the world leader at that. but when it comes to human intelligence, the u.s. has a

poor track record in the last five to ten years in terms of our human intelligence network and inside of isis. i expect the biggest advantage the saudis will bring to this coalition is their ability to bring some human intelligence and enlighten what is happening inside the islamic state. >> right. we're live from the gulf. i'm in abu dhabi. this is the uae. we know that the uae also forms part of this coalition of the willing. we also know in the past couple weeks that the australians have flown their jets in here and their military personnel, with an intent, one, it seems to get involved in the theater. so i put this to you. what about the uae. how do you expect this country to be involved? >> well, the uae has a world class air force. they're trained by a lot of westerners, a lot of british pilots. their special operations are

handled by western operations. but they've got top brand new f-16 aircraft. they've shown the ability to operate these at a distance both in leb yeah and now in the strikes against isis. they're the single biggest logistical supporter of the u.s. navy and other allied navies through nato, through abu dhabi and other ports there in the united arab emirates. so i think the first factor they bring is more intelligence in the seam way that the saudi arabians do. they bring logistical support in terms of their airfields and some top shelf aircraft. the american war machine is spread pretty thin around the globe. it's important to have these near peer allies that can be involved. it's gratifying to see that the americans are not going it alone, that they've got significant support from some of the arab allies. >> yeah. and we're looking at a map of

those arab nations involved in the syrian air strikes as you speak. i'm fascinated to see the involvement. there's been such a rift between uae and saudi and qatar of late who have been hosting the muslim brotherhood, political islam which worries enormously the saudis and the uae as well, but it seems as now they are on board again. what sort of involvement would you expect from qatar? we know that they've flown sorties over libya in the past. are you expecting them to be banging and using their aircraft over syria? >> well, it's fascinating that qatar has joined, and i think it was a point they had to join because they've been critically accused of providing so much funding to the muslim

brotherhood and pseudo strterrot organizations. i think that they will provide some aircraft. i haven't seen any evidence of that. i haven't seen any reporting on that, but they also have some capable aircraft. even if they're just providing logistics, i think that's enough for a small nation like that to show they are part of the coalition of the willing and that they're not trying to play both sides of the fence. and i think you alluded to something earlier, that there is a lot of interarab conflict between these states. i think it takes something like this where they've got a unified common thread to kind of force them to work together. and i think that's what we're seeing right now. >> absolutely. all right. so we've talked to those arab nations who are involved, headlining, involved in these strikes. and jordan to the north, of course, with huge intelligence capabilities, involved in the

past and in regional conflicts here and sitting right on the cusp of that border between turkey and syria, itself, engulfed by more than a million syrian refugees at the moment. so clearly another important actor when it comes to those getting on board and getting involved in this fight. i am seeing a number, a lot of noise over twitter this morning. one bit of information which we can't stand up, but damascus saying that it was involved about these strikes. certainly, the u.s. not suggesting that for one moment. it will be interesting to see whether we get any further information out of the u.s. on whether they have or have not been involved with bashar al-assad either overtly or covertly. what would your guess have been at this point? >> i think it's in the assad regime's best interest to claim that they were part of this. i don't think there's any chance the assad regime was let in on

the american war plan so to speak. but the assad regime just over a year ago was under serious threat of being attacked by the united states and a separate coalition of the willing. it wasn't until they gave up their chemical weapons that that threat of attack was removed. so i think it's in the assad regime's best interest as portraying themselves as being involved. they really want to see the u.s. take down isis and see if they can pick up the piece. i think it's very important for the united states to make sure that we don't send that message that we are inadvertently supporting the assad regime. they have been a sponsor of terror for over three decades. i'm not going to shed any tears if and when the assad regime falls. it's an absolutely brutal dictator she eorshi dictatorship. i think the best we allowed them to do is de-conflict. we made sure that our flight

paths didn't cross over their integrated air defense system and i think the assad regime is probably going to portray this as them helping the united states to a much greater extent than they actually did. >> christopher, your analysis is insightful. we thank you very much for joining us live this evening out of the states. are you live with me in the gulf, in the uae. the c the capital, abu dhabi as we learn about the air strikes over syria to destroy the command-and-control of isis. the first pictures coming in to us now. this photo has been tweeted out claiming to show a communications tower damaged by the strikes. u.s. strikes in raqqah. right. we're live. as i say, in the uae. we're going to take a very short break at this point before i do.

some breaking news banner on the official agency which reads the american side informed the syrian representative to the u.n. yesterday that the u.s. will carry out air strikes [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ]

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would let me take you home. the power of allegra relieves your toughest indoor and outdoor symptoms fast and stays strong for 24 hours. stop suffering. start living. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm becky anderson in abu dhabi in the uae. >> and i'm errol barnett. as we continue our coverage on the live, u.s. air strikes on syria the u.s. is being aided by arab allies in its effort to

take out isis strongholds in syria. here's the latest information we have for you as we bring all of this together. several foreign partners joining in in these strikes are arab countries, those nations are the uae, baugh rain, saudi arabia and jordan. sources say qatar is also involved there on the gulf. but at this moment, it's unclear if qatar is helping in the actual air strikes or perhaps is supporting in some other way. so this visual map gives you a break down of arab nations helping in these u.s. air strikes which at this moment are ongoing. a u.s. official tells cnn so far there's been no interference from syrian forces. now the u.s. are using tomahawk missiles like the ones you saw launched here. they were launched from the sea and were aided by fighter jets and bombers attacking from the sky. now u.s. military official tells cnn these strikes are meant to target the ability of isis to command and control and resupply

as well as train their fighters. so this is meant to really strike at the heart of isis. and one of its strongholds in syria. but as i say, this is still a developing story coming in to cnn. let's go to joe johns, live. any new information, joe, or reaction you can bring from d.c. to this breaking story? >> will, this latest information that came across the trans, suggesting that the united states actually informed the syrian representative to the u.n. of the fact that air strikes were coming. poses a tantalizing question in washington right now, because the defense secretary of the united states, chuck hagel, has said on the record that the united states would not cooperate with syria. so this raises the question whether informing the u.n. representative of air strikes on the way would actually fall into the category of cooperation with

syria. one of those sticky points here on capitol hill. and i can tell you here in washington, most of the reaction from politicians inside the government has been very positive. of course very early. the big question in washington, d.c. has been how the united states could conduct air strikes against isis in syria and at the same time not help the government there of bashar al-assad. so a number of questions being raised tonight. and we have not yet been able to get the united states government to confirm that report coming out of syrian media that the syrian government was, in fact, notified, errol. >> right. and we should note that before this, the foreign ministry of syria had said they would want to be informed of any u.s.-led effort in their country, and if they weren't, it would be a form of aggression. so to hear them now say that they were informed makes them

seem more involved, but that's coming from the syrian state media. let's talk about what's involved for the u.s. president. he said he would target isis no matter where they are. we've already had the air strikes in iraq, and now this news that they are under way in syria. but the u.s. president is meant to chair a u.n. security council panel this week and discuss foreign fighters, you know, isis doesn't have very many friends in the global community, but how does the fact that this air strike is under way and most importantly, it's being aid by arab allies, how does that change the discussion on what the u.s. and other countries should do about foreign fighters in the country? >> it's a very interesting dynamic that you mentioned the president of the united states. the timing of the u.n. general assembly just getting under way, and he's going to new york, now, to stand before the world and talk about isis at a time when he has just authorized those air strikes in syria.

so it's certainly a topic of conversation now for the world, a good time for the president to show there and domestically to appear very strong. the question is just at the end of the day, what is the u.s. and the world's policy when it comes to the issues in both syria and iraq? and the foreign fighters? and isis? we have bombs, but the question asked again and again here in washington through the think tanks, on capitol hill, what is the long-term strategy. how do you deal with some of the underlying issues, both in iraq as well as in syria, as it relates to isis, errol. >> joe johns is live for us in the u.s. capitol. thanks so much. it's just past 12:30. early in the morning there for you as well as we continue to follow developments in this breaking story. at this moment we want to cross to becky anderson who is

watching all of this take place at the united arab emirates. becky? >> that's right. live in the gulf, in the uae, and the capital of abu dhabi. i want to show you a photo of what isis claims is damage from these air strikes. this is the first such photo that we have seen from raqqah. isis official radio tweeted this out, claiming it shows a communications tower damaged by the u.s. strikes. some speculation at least even their part as to whether it was a drone or a plane. we'll get more on that as we can. now breaking news, in arabic, on an official news agency says, and i quote, according to syrian foreign ministry, the american side informed the syrian representative to the u.n. yesterday that the u.s. will carry out air strikes, targeting the terrorist organization in raqqah. and if you were listening to joe

johns there, he was commenting on that and saying that was interesting, interesting developments, giving that the u.s. has said it wouldn't be cooperating with syria, so by talking to the u.n. representative, at least and informing them ahead of time, is that cooperation or is that not? that's the politics, as it stands. let's get you to the floor, to the ground, to the very latest on this story. cnn's anna coren joining me now from erbil in northern iraq. and as we see this action over northern syria, you are well placed to describe what is going on where you are, where we've had some, what, more than 200 air strikes of late. the sort of terrain that the ground forces are working on, not just in iraq, but in syria as well. how things might be going. >> reporter: yeah, almost 200 u.s. air strikes at least launched here in iraq, including

some french. but certainly, becky, as we have been reporting, you know, these air strikes, they are having an impact on the battlefield, but they are not defeating isis, and i think this is something that we really need to remember, that they will take out, you know, those armored convoys. they will take out that artillery and stop the advancement, but they aren't necessarily forcing isis to retreat. and that is out on these open plains here in iraq where isis was making that rapid advance. in northern syria where these latest air strikes have targeted, we're hearing raqqah, which is the de facto capital, if you like, of isis, but this is an urban environment. and certainly from what we've been hearing from military officials here in kurdistan is that the united states has been reluctant to get involved in that urban fight in that particular environment. fearful of, you know, collateral damage. so it will be interesting to

find out more about the targets that they have hid. we know over the recent days that it's been cabauny in northern syria up close to the turkish border that has really prompted this response from the international community, watching that wave of kurdish refugees crossing into turkey, up to 200,000 was the last estimate. certainly, you would have to think, becky, that that had some role in why the united states and this arab coalition have launched these air strikes, you know, overnight into the early hours of this morning. but certainly, here in kurdistan, becky, the response that we are getting from the kurdish regional government is relief. they've been calling for this for weeks, because as they've said, you can't just go after the isis here in iraq. you have to go after them in their sanctuary, in their safe haven in syria, otherwise this entire exercise is futile. they have also called, becky,

for an intensification of the air campaign here in iraq, because, yes, taking out particular isis targets, yes, stopping the advance, but not necessarily pushing them back. so they want to see more of an air campaign here in northern iraq. >> u.s. fighter jets are in the air. they are being supported, we know, by five arab nations. saudi, the uae, here where i am broadcasting here today, jordan, qatar, and bahrain. what we do know, anna, and you have been alluding to cabauny, 200,000 syrian kurds making their way into turkey over the past four days alone. as, on the flip side, kurdish fighters out of turkey were making their way into or close to cabauny, which is to the, just north of raqqah in order to try to halt this assault from isis. at this stage, given what we know about these air strikes,

it's very difficult to tell whether they are wholly concentrated on raqqah, for example, or whether they are sort of, you know, given a wider remit and cabauny where we've seen so many problems for so many people whether they are helping to relieve residents of isis there. but given your experience of the air spritrikes over the region t you've been in now for what, four to six weeks, what might happen next? >> what might happen next? well, i think it needs to be a sustained campaign. that's what we're hearing from officials at least, that it can't just be piecemeal. isis has been preparing for this for weeks. they heard obama's address almost two weeks ago, outlining his strategy to degrade isis.

so the militants knew that this was coming. this day was coming. so they have been, you know, making preparations for this. obviously operating differently, but going after cabauny from what we have been hearing on the ground, they have been using tanks, artillery, now for u.s. fighter jets for those drones, they are easy targets. they can spot those and take them out. and certainly that is extremely effective if they go after them. what this means, you know, we know that the syrian opposition army is not ready. that they still have months of training ahead of them before they are going to be on the ground, taking the fight directly to isis, which is the model here in iraq, which is where you have those u.s. air strikes, they provide that critical cover. and then you have the ground forces, the peshmerga or iraqi security forces come in and clean up and push back those isis militants. that is not going to happen in

syria yet. but as to those ground forces, you do not have that set up. and here in iraq, where they are set up, they are not pushing isis back. so here's the conundrum. those air strikes continuing, need to continue, but they are not going to beat isis. >> one of our analysts just a little earlier said that as far as he can tell, a much hardware is being degraded in raqqah. he said, and i quote, this is significant. cruise missiles strength. these are big and expensive. and they are fired or would be fired at heavy targets. so you are perhaps right to point out that this is the hardware that these air strikes are going after. what happens on the ground is the really important and integral question going forward. thank you for that. i'm becky anderson, live for you in the gulf in the uae, one of the countries that is avowedly supporting these u.s. strikes

and as they start over syria. we will be back with more breaking news after this. stay with us. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow.

we're back to our continuing coverage of the u.s.-led air strikes in syria. i'm becky anderson live for you in the uae in the gulf. the u.s. began launching

tomahawk missiles targeting isis and their stronghold over raqqah. these were followed up with attacks from fighter jets and bombers. activists on the ground say multiple buildings were hit. saudi arabia, the uae where i am, bahrain and jordan are involved. we're told qatar is involved, but it's unclear whether they're conducting any air strikes. in the meantime, syrian officials say the u.s. notified syria of the air strikes in advance. it is 10 till 9:00 here in the morning. it is light. so anything that is going on, pilots will be able to see the ground at this point. >> you're exactly right. it's approaching 1:00 in the morning on the u.s. east coast. all of this being announced in the late night hours. people in the middle east waking

up to this. and new information coming in to cnn now with reaction from one of the nations taking part in this. and it's jordan. jordan confirming they have join the coalition. we are working on getting the latest. and more importantly, we want to find out if jordanian forces are involved. u.s. telling us that some five arab nations were involved in helping in the air campaign. only one syrian neighbor, that's jordan, but a very significant player in the region, saudi arabia also took part, bahrain, the united arab emirates and qatar as well. we're just not sure at this stage if qatar helped in the air campaign. but jordan confirmed they are helping with this fight against isis. let's discuss this in depth now. i'm joined by rick francona. he's staying up late for us as well as we continue to track

this breaking story. i want to get your sense on what we've seen already. would you say that the most significant development here, not so much that the u.s. is conducting these air strikes in syria, but that you have these arab allies vocally and now on the part of jordan anyway, publicly hippielping in this fi? >> yeah, i think the cooperation and the actual participation of these five arab countries is huge. it's a success for the u.s. administration because they talk about building a coalition and rather than just having a coalition of western countries, this is a coalition of neighbors. these are arab countries, mostly sunni, dropping bombs on another arab country. this is highly significant. and i think it portends well for the future of the coalition. >> we'll find out as the day moves forward exactly how, but

how does this aid the u.s. campaign, trying to make the point that isis poses a global threat, not just the u.s. does this help make that point and increase the prospects to really defuse and deflate isis? >> i think that's exactly right. so now you are regional volume. and i think the president will try to get some global by in as more countries realize that isis is a threat not just to syria, saudi arabia and jordan but to countries in europe and the united states, as the fighters that come, the foreign fighters, return home. so i think this is kind of a watershed event, what's going on tonight. i think it portends well for the future of the coalition. and i think that isis will now realize that, you know, they are, they don't have free reign in syria anymore. we saw when they were moving

things from iraq into syria, kind of using it as a safe haven. they were disbursing their assets in both iraq and syria. and we've gone after what we've been able to detect in raqqah. so this is the first, this is the start of a long campaign. i don't want to make it sound like this is a one-time strike. this is the beginning of a long, long campaign, and it's going to have to be followed up with action, hopefully, we'll be able to get allies to participate and go in there and root out this evil on the ground. >> as you talk about additional allies, though, we should note, we're looking at this screen with the five arab partners who participated as far as we know. there is a notable yoe mission as you look at syria. only one of its neighbors, that's jordan has participated. but turkey has been a country that has appeared to be somewhat reluctant to openly and vocally support u.s. or regional efforts. there was a communique that

turkey did not sign onto. we have the unga taking place in the united states. does this help put pressure on turkey? and why is turkey so reluctant? >> turkey was reluctant before, because they had these 49 hostages that were being held by isis. but that's been resolved, and the circumstances of that resolution are unclear. so we don't know what the turks agreed to with isis. they said they were in contact with isis. but they may have made some sort of agreement that they will stay out of this, or they will not let the united states and its allies use turkish air bases, which would be very useful, or they won't take steps against isis. as you know, most of the fighters that enter into syria and iraq do so via turkey. if the turks would just close that border, that would be a huge help to what's going on. i don't see how turkey stays out of this, though, they're going to have to participate in one way or another. i suspect that it's not going to be militarily.

and i suspect that they will continue to restrict the use of their bases to humanitarian efforts, but it would be a huge help if the turks would close that border and stop the flow of fighters to and from syria. >> because that's really the next large challenge here. the campaign, as far as we know, which is ongoing at this hour, simply focuses on primary targets of isis, things that will limit their ability to train, to store weapons, and also, you know, they also, you know, have this resupply routes that go beyond syria into iraq, and that's why they've been able to take so much of that country. as we look at the next stage here, won't the u.s. and allies need to figure out how they're going to arm syrian rebels, which rebels will they arm, and like you said, how to close down borders where they're stheneaki into the country? >> yeah. the ground piece of this in syria and we're relying on the ground troops in syria to be our boots on the ground.

we're talking small numbers though. we're talking 5,000, and talking about doing the training inasmuch as eight months. and when we're done we have 5,000 fighters to go after isis which numbers in 20 or 30,000. it's a big problem, and i don't see how this resolves it. one of the issues we have is how do you vet the, quote, moderate syrian opposition. and assuming it is the free syrian army, the free syrian army has told us that their primary goal is to overthrow the regime of bashar assad and not to fight isis. and they won't fight isis unless they get some kind of guarantee from the united states that we're going to support them in their primary effort. so this all needs to be worked out. and we're still in the initial phases of how that training of the ground force actually happens, and i don't think that we have a real good handle on this yet. i'm trying to be polite. i don't think we have a clue about what we're going to do on

the ground. >> rick francona staying up for us late in new york. but we're still figuring this out as we cover this breaking story. we'll have more live coverage all day here on cnn, but a recap of this breaking development. aircraft from the u.s. and several arab countries are at this moment carrying out intense strikes on isis targets in the city of raqqah and some targets outside of raqqah were hit. an official telling cnn these attacks began with cruise missiles followed by fighter and bomber raids. it is to inflict a definitive blow against isis. ste stay with our breaking coverage against isis as the region wakes town this news.

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[thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i'm still working. he's retired. i hope he's saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you're just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we'll help you get there. hello, and thanks for staying with us, earveryone. this is cnn's continuing coverage of the u.s. air strikes in syria. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and of course all around the world. we have live coverage tonight from anna coren and a host of mita