‘World is united’ in fighting IS: Obama

DAMASCUS: US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that air strikes the United States and its Arab allies unleashed against the Islamic State group in Syria send a clear message that the world is united in confronting the jihadists.

Dozens of IS and Al-Qaeda militants were reported killed in the raids, which Washington said had partly targeted extremists plotting an "imminent attack" against the West.

Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined in the operation that saw a torrent of bombs and missiles fired from air and sea.

Tuesday´s raids came after US and French air strikes in neighbouring Iraq, opening a new front in the war against the IS organisation which has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and declared an Islamic "caliphate".

Thanking Arab leaders for the action, Obama said: "Because of the almost unprecedented effort of this coalition, I think we now have an opportunity to send a very clear message that the world is united."

The US has built up a broad coalition of more than 50 nations to combat the IS jihadist threat, and Obama will seek to enlist support from others at the UN General Assembly, which opens Wednesday.

Hours after the unprecedented raids on Syria, the US leader declared that "the strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America´s fight alone. "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," he added.

Describing the strikes as "very successful," the Pentagon said they hit IS positions, training compounds, command centres and armed vehicles in the IS stronghold of Raqa and near the Iraqi border. (AFP)