The United States has begun surveillance flights over Syria after an authorisation by President Barack Obama in what is being seen as a precursor to the launching of airstrikes against Islamic State militants inside Syrian territory.
Obama gave his approval over the weekend and the surveillance flights were already underway as of Tuesday morning, a US official has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Although the White House has said that Obama has not made any decision about taking military action inside Syria, the Pentagon is reported to be drafting options to strike ISIS targets in Syrian locations close to the Iraqi border.
The US reconnaissance over Syria comes close on the heels of the ISIS beheading American journalist James Foley last week and posting the grisly video online. The brutal killing prompted Obama to term ISIS a cancer that must be extracted.
For the surveillance operation, the Pentagon has indicated likely deployment of both manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes.
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime, meanwhile, has set its own terms for a military offensive against militants within its borders. Despite being a clear beneficiary of any move to weaken the ISIS, it has warned the United States against unilateral action. Any US strike would have to be in cooperation with Syria, and “not through transgression” of its sovereignty, it says.
The US for its part has made clear that it would not be coordinating positions or actions with the Assad regime which it wants to quit. As Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes put it, “Joining forces with Assad would essentially permanently alienate the Sunni population in both Syria and Iraq, who are necessary to dislodging ISIl.”
“We’re not going to comment on intelligence or operational issues, but as we’ve been saying, we’ll use all the tools at our disposal,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said on Monday.
Pentagon spokesman Real Adm John Kirby also more or less ruled out any coordination with the Syrian authorities. Asked about the degree of coordination that the United States would need with Syria to go after the ISIS, Kirby told CNN: “Not getting into the hypothetical operations, there’s no intention to coordinate with Syrian authorities.”
As for the importance of the surveillance operation, Kirby said: “You certainly want to get as much of a view on the ground as you can. You want as much situational awareness as you can….Satellites can provide you good visibility, but you always want closer eyes on target if you can.”