US aircraft were flying “near continuous” bombing raids against Islamic State militants in Syria, officials said late on Friday, after Britain and two more EU nations agreed to join the US-led air armada.
The mission is now similar to US-led air raids undertaken in Iraq, with “near continuous” combat flight operations over Syria, a senior US defense official said.
“I can confirm US air operations are ongoing in Syria,” the official added.
Belgium, Britain and Denmark earlier approved plans to join the war in the air, but Washington said that up to 15,000 “moderate” rebels would need to be trained and armed to beat back the militants in Syria, where the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant has set up its de facto capital. The Pentagon said airstrikes — which continued for a fifth day in Syria — had disrupted lucrative oil-pumping operations that have helped fund the militants.
The White House welcomed the new European countries recruited to the Iraq operation, which are expected to add a total of 19 fighter jets to the campaign.
That would free up more US air power to strike targets in Syria, where US jets are already flying with warplanes from four allied Arab countries.
Britain’s House of Commons voted by 524 lawmakers to 43 to back a motion authorizing airstrikes in Iraq.
British Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon said that there would be no “immediate military action,” but that it would be a “long, drawn-out campaign.”
He welcomed “a lot of support” for military action in Syria as well, during a sometimes heated parliamentary debate.
Among the naysayers, opposition Labour Party MP Rashanara Ali, a spokeswoman on education, said she was stepping down from her post in the shadow Cabinet in order to abstain from the vote.
“Too many mistakes have been made over the last decade and far too many people in conflict zones have had to pay a high price for misconceived actions by the UK and other countries,” Ali said in a letter to Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.
Ahead of the vote, British Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers that the Islamic State must be confronted.
“This is not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked, we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean,” Cameron said.
Washington wants to build the broadest possible coalition including Sunni Arab allies to tackle the group, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared an Islamic caliphate.
However, it has explicitly excluded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, favoring instead moderate rebel factions fighting both the Syrian government and extremists.
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