Syrian and Iranian officials criticized the Obama administration today for excluding them from an international coalition coming together in the battle against the Islamic State group, while a state-run Syrian daily warned that unauthorized US airstrikes on Syria may trigger the "first sparks of fire" in the region.
Syria's main Western-backed opposition group, meanwhile, welcomed President Barack Obama's authorization of U.S. airstrikes targeting for the first time the extremists inside Syria, saying it stands "ready and willing" to partner with the international community to defeat the militants.
But the Syrian National Coalition said that airstrikes need to be coupled with a strategy for ultimately toppling President Bashar Assad.
Kurdish politicians in Iraq similarly praised Obama's announcement of wider airstrikes and assistance to Iraqi forces.
"We welcome this new strategy," said Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician and one of Iraq's newly-appointed deputy prime ministers. "We think it will work with the cooperation of the indigenous local forces like Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish peshmerga and other forces."
"There is an urgent need for action. People cannot sit on the fence. This is a mortal threat to everybody," he told The Associated Press.
The US began launching limited airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq earlier this summer at the request of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in a significant boost to the Iraqi forces, including the Kurdish peshmerga fighters, battling to win back land lost to the militant group.
The Sunni extremists seized roughly a third of Iraq and Syria in their rampage this summer, declaring a self-styled caliphate in areas under their control where they apply their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
In a prime-time address to the nation from the White House late Wednesday, Obama announced he was authorizing U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to root out Islamic State extremists and curb their reign of terror.
