Live Blog: War against Islamic State

Turkey would do whatever needs to be done as a part of the international coalition against IS, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday during an interview with American talk show host, Charlie Rose.

"Turkey had a big fight against al-Qaeda for a long time. Our struggle against ISIL will also be the same. We are very firm in this," he said.

Erdogan praised Turkey's national intelligence service MIT who conducted Saturday's rescue of 46 Turkish diplomats held hostage by

At least 50 air strikes have been launched against militants in Syria, according to the British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

They included strikes against militants from the al-Qaida linked Al-Nusra Front, a rival group to IS, the Observatory reported.

Airstrikes fell over Syrian town of Abu Kamal and training camps in the province of Deir al-Zor. 

• The US and five Arab nations carried out 14 airstrikes against the Islamic State  in Syria overnight Monday, and an additional eight on an al-Qaeda branch group, the Pentagon announced early Tuesday morning.

• US president Barack Obama claimed the backing of five Arab nations for intensive military attacks against IS targets in Syria showed the offensive was not “America’s fight alone”, as his military chiefs warned the intensive air assault was only the start of a sustained campaign likely to last years.

• Leader the Khorasan militant group in Syria, Muhsin al-Fadhli, a Kuwaiti-born al-Qaida leader, was killed along with his wife and daughter in the raids that targeted several group sites in the northwestern province of Idlib.

• Syrian state media carried a brief statement from the foreign ministry, saying that “the American side informed Syria’s permanent envoy to the UN that strikes will be launched against the Daesh terrorist organization in Raqqa.” The US denied such claims. 
• The US carried out three additional airstrikes against Islamic State militans, the Pentagon announced Tuesday evening.
• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized US-led airstrikes against IS in Syria as being "illegal".

Hamza al-Shamali, President of Harakat Hazm which is a part of the 'moderate' Free Syrian Army, has condemned the US-led attacks on Syria as "an attack on national sovereignty.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Shamali warned of chaos if the airstrikes continue.

“If the international community continues to ignore calls from revolutionary powers for the army of the Free Syrian Army without conditions, it will be a precursor to failure and devastation that will affect the whole region.”

Reports are coming in that Alan Henning, the British aid worker kidnapped by the Islamic State - who has been the subject of a heavily Muslim-led campaign for his release - has been found "innocent" of being spy by an IS Sharia court.

According to a statement by his wife, she has been told by ISIS that he is "no threat" and she hopes for his release:

Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, confirmed his organisations opposition to the US-led attacks in Syria.

"We are against American military intervention and an international coalition in Syria, whether that is against the regime or Islamic State," Nasrallah said in a speech aired on al-Manar television.

Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that it took part in the airstrikes against the Islamic State last night, joining its allies in the US-led coalition.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he supports the US attacks on the Islamic State in Syria, while acknowledging that Turkey will play a backseat role in the righting.

"We will do our part in the fight against terrorism, we will take steps accordingly," he said.

He also said, however, that Turkey could give non-lethal military support to the U.S.-led coalition.

The website Bellingcat has gathered evidence suggesting that as many as 14 civilians have been killed since US airstrikes last night including a number of children.

Unconfirmed reports are coming in on social media that a US airstrike in Idlib in Syria may have killed British and Dutch citizens, fighting with Islamist groups including the Khorasan group, who were allegedly plotting attacks in Western countries.

Patrick Cockburn, writing in the Independent, has warned that the only way to stop the Islamic State now is through an organised truce in Syria:

"US policy has an Alice in Wonderland absurdity about it, everything being the opposite of what it appears to be. The so-called 'coalition of the willing' is, in practice, very unwilling to fight IS, while those hitherto excluded, such as Iran, the Syrian government, Hezbollah and the PKK, are the ones actually fighting. A truce between the government and moderate rebels in Syria would enable both to devote their resources to fighting IS, as they need to do quickly if they are to avoid defeat."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explained on Sky News why Israel was so quick to shoot down the Syrian jet this morning.

"It’s a tiny country," he said.

"We don’t have the time or privilege to wait and check, because they could be above Tel Aviv or above Jerusalem in less than minutes."

"So that’s why we have this procedure."

William Mayville, Pentagon Director of Operations, gave an update on US airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday, saying more than 160 munitions had been used against targets in Syria.

Referring to attacks on the Al-Qaeda affiliated Khorasan group, he claimed the group was "in the final stage of plans to target Western targets and possible strikes against the American homeland."

He emphasised the group was not "focused on the Assad regime or the Syrian people" but what primarily using Syria as a base for launching attacks on the West.

US airstrikes had targetted Islamic State "headquarters training camps, barrack and combat vehicles" in three waves with the US regional Arab partners primarily taking part in the third wave.

One of the most immediate tasks was "to continue to the degradation if ISIL in Syria and Iraq" but said there would be no boots on the ground.

"We will not put ground forces into syria."

He also described Syrian government air radars as "passive."