The United States and a broad coalition of Middle Eastern powers on Sept. 22 expanded strategic airstrikes from Iraq to include Syria.
Airstrikes were aimed at Islamic State members and leaders as well as their infrastructure in Syria and Iraq — including headquarters and supply, finance and military facilities, said an anonymous State Department official in an email.
The goal of these airstrikes, the official said, is to degrade the Islamic State’s organizational and military capabilities.
The State Department official said that Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, alerted Syria of its airstrikes. She justified the airstrikes in a Sept. 23 letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which she said the U.N. charter allows countries to defend an unequipped country.
“We did not request the (Syrian) regime’s permission,” the State Department official said. “We believe the Syrian government lost all legitimacy a long time ago.”
Joseph Caddell, a UNC visiting lecturer of history, said the U.S. can target specific Islamic State sites, unlike other military targets.
Caddell said the airstrikes have the potential to lead to extreme consequences, both with respect to the safety of Syrian citizens and future international relations.
“Even if you have a majority of successful strikes, it only takes a fairly small number of mistakes to alienate a lot of people,” Caddell said.