US President Barack Obama on 26 August 2014 authorised surveillance flights over Syria. The surveillance flights was planned in order to gain intelligence on the activities of ISIS militants. The authorisation was given after the beheading of the US journalist James Foley by ISIS group a week ago.
Further, US is also planning to go for a military strike wihtout seeking permission from Syrian government. In this regard Pentagon is drafting military options that would strike the militant Islamic State near the largely erased border between Syria and Iraq, as opposed to more deeply inside Syria. The US is also mulling to bolster US support for the moderate Syrian rebels who view Assad as their main foe.
This is not the first time that US will be going for a military strike withour seeking Syrian government permission. Earlier in July 2014 US special operations forces carried out an unsuccessful rescue attempt for hostages held by the Islamic State
However, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that it would not allow US air strikes if it does not coordinate with the Syrain government.
Comment
In last few months of 2014, the resurgence and advance of ISIS militant group in Levante region comprising of Iraq and Syria has grown substantially disturbing the strategic calculus in the Middle East region.
On the one hand, US led western powers are reluctant to share the dias with major Shia nations, Iran and Syria, in the Middle Est region. This is because western power does not want to disturb their starategic calculus with the seasoned allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which are mainly Sunni populated.
On the other hand, allowing the ISIS threat to grow puts a question mark on US military might and endangers the lives of US citizens.
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