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The United States has begun to attack ISIS in Syria. It has been reported that as part of the U.S. strike against ISIS in Syria, five Arab nations of Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were part of the military operation.

The New York Times reported American fighter jets and armed Predator and Reaper drones, flying alongside warplanes from several Arab allies, struck a broad array of targets in territory controlled by the militants, known as the Islamic State. American defense officials said the targets included weapons supplies, depots, barracks and buildings the militants use for command and control. Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from United States Navy ships in the region.

The strikes by the U.S. have changed the calculations as now the president has begun to insert itself into the ongoing Syrian civil war.

As the Times reported the strikes are a major turning point in President Obama’s war against the Islamic State and open up a risky new stage of the American military campaign. Until now, the administration had bombed Islamic State targets only in Iraq, and had suggested it would be weeks if not months before the start of a bombing campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria.

CBS News reported the strikes hit targets in and around the city of Raqqa and the province with the same name, activists said. Raqqa is the militant group’s self-declared capital; it began referring to itself as simply the “Islamic State” during the summer.

CBS News continued “The strikes destroyed or damaged multiple ISIL targets in the vicinity of Ar Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr, Al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal and included ISIL fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance center, supply trucks and armed vehicles,” CENTCOM said in a statement, using an alternate acronym for the group.

Defense officials have stated the goal is to deprive ISIS of its safe havens and sanctuaries in Syria. The strikes in Syria began without the approval of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who President Obama stated in 2011 needs to step down because of the violence he has perpetrated against his own people and his use of chemical weapons.

Now that military operations have begun against ISIS in Syria, what are the strategic objectives the U.S. is trying to achieve, and how will we know we have achieved those objectives?

The New York Times reported  Saudi Arabia recently agreed to a training facility for moderate members of the Syrian opposition, whom the United States hopes to train, equip and send back to Syria to fight both Mr. Assad and Islamic State militants.

How will this happen and will those fighters be used against both Assad and ISIS? As the New York Times reported the airstrikes in Syria, so far, come without the benefit of a large ground force to capitalize on gains they make. While some Syrian opposition groups fighting the Islamic State militants may be able to move into a few cleared areas, administration officials acknowledged on Monday that it was doubtful that the Free Syrian Army, the opposition group most preferred by the United States, would be able to take control of major sections of Islamic State territory, at least not until it has been better trained — which will take place over the next year.

It has been reported we are only talking about training 5,000 opposition forces in Saudi Arabia, but intelligence reports have stated ISIS has over 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq and growing every day.  How will only 5,000 opposition forces begin to degrade ISIS, and who will not be ready for at least a year?

Has the air bridge from Iran to Syria which brings in weapons and supplies to continue to prop up Assad been stopped by our Arab partners?

The first phase has begun, but how will the ground campaign begin?  If the opposition forces will not be ready for a year, who will be part of the ground campaign in Syria?

Another aspect of the escalating conflict in Syria, how will the U.S. deal with Hezbollah in Syria who have been fighting alongside pro-Assad forces in Syria?

Will our European allies join the fray in Syria, will Turkey join the coalition or will they stay on the sidelines?

The attacks have begun in Syria but remember what Winston Churchill stated as one enters a conflict “Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events…incompetent or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant fortune, ugly surprise, awful miscalculations.”

We will see how this progresses in the weeks and months ahead.