U.S. strikes Khorasan group in Syria, said plotting 9/11-style attack on West

A U.S.-led air attack against jihadists in Syria targeted al-Qaida’s Khorasan group because it was on the verge of carrying out “major attacks” against the West, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The Americans pounded Khorasan targets in Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles to counter the mounting threat posed by the group, said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Intelligence reports indicated that the group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against Western targets and potentially the U.S. homeland,” Mayville told reporters.

Our initial indication is that these strikes were very successful … I can tell you that last night’s strikes were only the beginning.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman

The strikes against the Khorasan militants early Tuesday were separate from a wave of bombing raids led by the United States and joined by several Arab countries that targeted the Islamic State group. Earlier, the Pentagon had said that U.S. air strikes killed Khorasan members hatching plots against Western targets. U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, had announced that American forces carried out eight air strikes against Khorasan group targets west of Aleppo. Mayville said more than 40 Tomahawk missiles were launched from naval ships in the Gulf and the Red Sea, and that “the majority of the Tomahawk strikes were against Khorasan.” The Khorasan group was not focused on battling the Syrian regime or aiding the Syrian people but instead is “establishing roots in Syria in order to advance attacks against the West and the homeland,” he said.

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