US Seeks Help in Targeting Islamic State in Syria

As the Syrian Army retook the gas field in Homs, successfully wresting it from the control of the Islamic State, the United States is seeking advice from unusual sources to improve its offensive. As it stands, the U.S. military presence may be complicating the conflict in Syria further.

Activists told Al Jazeera that U.S. airstrikes in Syria on Thursday hit the compound of a powerful rebel group not affiliated with the Islamic State.The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the U.S. airstrikes Thursday targeted an office and a vehicle used by the group Nusra Front in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, where the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group routed Western-backed Syrian rebels last week.

Activists said the aerial campaign was among several that occurred early Thursday in towns along Syria’s border with Turkey. Other strikes hit compounds of the Nusra Front in Sarmada and Harem.The strike in Harem killed at least two children, said both a local activist Ahmad Kaddour and the Observatory.

The faltering strategy by the U.S. in Syria has prompted the it to contact an unlikely ally, Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday to appeal to him to join the fight against the Islamic State.

According to unnamed sources Obama sent an undisclosed letter to Iran’s Supreme leader seeking his cooperation in the campaign.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Obama’s letter “described a shared interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria,”  and “appeared aimed both at buttressing the campaign against Islamic State and nudging Iran’s religious leader closer to a nuclear deal.”

The U.S. has already garnered the support of dozens of nations around the world in a collective effort to combat the fundamentalist group. Australia, Canada and the UK are among several countries that have offered their assistance in the way of facilitated air strikes to destroy the terrorist group.

But the U.S. led campaign appears to be alienating its allies in Syria itself. The Syrian rebels have complained that U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State are indirectly aiding President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and they are infuriated that the U.S. is attacking other armed groups that are reinforcing the rebels. 

Concern is growing that the Obama administration’s strategy in fighting  Islamic State forces in Syria will soon collapse in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city. And rebels thought of by the U.S. to be “moderate” continue to threaten local residents, who are expecting the worst to come, as Syrian forces have taken control of all but one road into Aleppo.