The barrage of airstrikes announced by President Barack Obama are directed primarily against the Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS) in Syria, without the permission of the Syrian regime, and with opposition by Russia. Previous airstrikes were directed at ISIS in Iraq, with permission of Iraq's government.
American warplanes bombing ISIS in Syria were joined by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). State news agencies of these four countries mentioned their participation, though usually only briefly and reluctantly.
Qatar was named by the US administration as the fifth participating Arab country, but apparently Qatar did not actually participate in the bombing. Qatar's official state news agency did not mention the strikes at all, while Qatar-based al-Jazeera prominently mentioned the airstrikes, and the other Arab countries' participation, but failed to mention Qatar's role. It's also being widely noted that Turkey is not participating, and is not even permitting its air bases to be used. http://www.dailystar.lb/2844
As readers are aware, I've been writing frequently about of the continuing realignment of the entire Mideast following the Gaza war and the rise of ISIS. In this realignment, Turkey is aligned with Qatar and Hamas, versus Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian Authority. Turkey also has maintained cordial relations with ISIS, because ISIS held 49 Turkish diplomats as hostages until recently, and because ISIS is fighting Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Turkey's bitter enemy.
Radical Salafist groups in the Mideast are also supporters of ISIS, and Qatar is suspected of having a connection.
I have not heard any analyst say that ISIS can be defeated or even "managed" without "boots on the ground." Events in the Mideast are moving very quickly, and it's clear that many realignments have yet to occur, as the Mideast heads for a full-scale regional war, as predicted by Generational Dynamics.... http://cnn.com/7731
