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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

U.S. Airstrikes Begin Against ISIS in Syria; Refugees Flood Turkey-Syria Border

Aired September 23, 2014 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Major breaking news this morning. The U.S. launching airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria overnight.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. And we do want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Military officials say the targets hit were in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa. Also, three other Syrian cities. They're mostly buildings and other so-called hard targets. The aim: to degrade ISIS command and control, the resupply, also the training.

Separately, this is fascinating, and I think unexpected, the U.S. launched its own strikes without a coalition against a network of al Qaeda veterans called the Khorasan group. The United States said they were in Syria planning attacks against the United States and targets connected to the West. They said the action was to disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and other Western interests.

U.S. says it conducted eight strikes against these Khorasan targets west of Aleppo on the other side of the country in Syria. Those attacks included hits on training camps and bomb factory and other facilities. Now, the scope of the air strikes in total represents a significant escalation in the battle in the region, specifically the battle against ISIS. That campaign so far has been confined to targets in Iraq.

ROMANS: Now, the strikes began with sea-launched tomahawk missiles, followed up by bombers, fighter jets and drones. And the U.S. is not alone in launching these airstrikes. American military officials say all the partner nations involved in the airstrikes are Arab countries. They include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar. Qatar involved in the strikes. We don't know exactly if they are dropping bombs or the extent of their Qatar is dropping bombs, but they are part of this coalition with the United States.

We got complete coverage here. I want to start with White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski for this morning -- Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Right. I mean, there's surprise among some that these started to quickly. This is about 13 days after President Obama announced in that primetime speech that he was ready to conduct Syrian airstrikes, that he was authorizing the military to do so.

But that decision hadn't been made. To hear the decision had been made last night and members of Congress were notified and this began in earnest surprise them. But we are hearing support from members of Congress. The congressional leadership saying, yes, this is the time to do this now.

Another surprising thing was that this is happening before the president leaves for the U.N. Security Council meeting and the U.N. General Assembly. He leaves on that trip today.

So, there was some questions surrounding that, why not after the U.N. to try to get more nations on board and build that support? That's one of the purposes of the president's mission there. That's one of the things he wanted to bring home.

But you know, the military was really the one to decide that the time was now. It seems to be more hinging upon Congress saying that, yes, the support is there. They gave the president the authority to launch airstrikes in Syria. So, really, when you look at it from that perspective, it could have begun anytime and now we know it has.

ROMANS: So, Michelle, another interesting operation within the operation. The U.S. also taking action against what it says to disrupt the imminent attack plot against the United States and the West. These seasoned al Qaeda veterans, sometimes they're referred to as the Khorasan.

This is another operation -- the U.S. did this alone. It did not do this with these Arab partners. We don't know yet what this imminent plotting is, what this imminent threat was.

KOSINSKI: Yes, I think that is the fascinating part of it here because this group in particular, some information has come out about it over the last few weeks. Questions have been asked of the White House. What about this group? Are they more dangerous to the U.S. homeland than ISIS itself?

The answers that we have been getting have been that there aren't -- there isn't evidence out there. There aren't plots that are of imminent importance to U.S. security. But the way they worded that, they were plotting attacks that could be eminent. There seems to be a difference there. That is something we want to know more about.

We know that they were plotting, that their goal possibly even more than ISIS was to attack U.S. targets perhaps on U.S. soil. The U.S. government has been really reassuring in the last few weeks that there aren't any known plots that could be disrupted or that were of more specificity than at least what was said in the press release from CentCom last night. ROMANS: I think as the day wears on, we are going to be asking a lot

more questions about just what those strikes were against the Khorasan group and what was achieved -- Michelle Kosinski, thank you so much.

BERMAN: All right. What more fascinating -- this is the human toll. The victims of ISIS in that region, there have been tens of thousands of Kurdish residents in Syria trying to get over the border into Turkey. We have developments there overnight.

CNN's Arwa Damon live on the border right now.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You can see the scene unfolding around us.

People of all ages getting meticulously searched by the Turkish authorities. I was speaking with a group of women and children that were being searched back on that side. They said the hardest thing while they were waiting, because they had been waiting since last night, was the lack of water, much-needed supplies being delivered to these desperate families on the other side. This is as close as the Turkish authorities will allow us to get.

But you see the water supplies are there. The humanitarian organizations are there. Turkey and the various international non- profits really struggling to try to get the situation under control, with these massive influx of refugees, the vast majority of them are Syrian Kurds fleeing ISIS as it began its advance into the northern part of Syria, that is predominately Kurdish, taking over dozens of villages quickly, fighting right now centered around the town of Kobani. Not far from where we are.

There, one senior Kurdish official saying that they had managed to push ISIS back on the eastern and western front. Their hope is that with these U.S. airstrikes happening around Raqqa, the southern front would ease up as well. But you can see these families completely desperate at this stage to make it across the safety to get out from the scorching sun that has been especially difficult to cope with for the youngest and the most elderly.

We saw an older man being taken out on the stretcher and a lot of the kids, their parents really saying it has been difficult, not just to leave everything and their homeland behind, but also the circumstances they are dealing with just to get this far.

BERMAN: This is such an important picture we're looking at right now. Reminder that there are every day human beings caught in the middle of this conflict, children. You can see so many of them here in the picture who have been in the crosshairs of ISIS and now trying to flee the border from Syria into Turkey. Perhaps the forces fighting ISIS inside Syria might be emboldened by these latest round of strikes.

Our Arwa Damon at the border right now, thanks so much for being there.

ROMANS: Let's bring in CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Rick, thank you so much for being here, walking us through this, this morning.

First, let's talk about the scope of the airstrikes. This is a big operation with five Arab nation partners. Only a couple of weeks after the president said we're going to do this.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET), CNN MLITARY ANALYST: It's amazing they can put this together that fast. Coordinating the operations of five different air forces is not -- six different air forces is easy. And then, don't forget, you have the missiles first and timing of everything had to be just right, and de-conflicting all that air space, everybody, there's a lot of moving parts to put bombs on target.

But it was well-done. You saw the targets sets range the entire country. So, they didn't just put everything in one place. They actually hit a series of targets. And I think that's important because they went after the key targets first. And if they were able to break the command of control first, that will make things a lot easier.

Now, if they are able to tie these guys down in Syria, that gives them less flexibility in Iraq. This is all tied together. ISIS is one organization. It's not two organizations. So, if you hurt them in Syria, you slow their advances in Iraq.

BERMAN: I was going to ask, when will we know? Because we have not seen pictures yet from inside Syria. What will be a sign of the relative success of this round of air strikes?

FRANCONA: I think you'll -- well, CentCom will probably start releasing the gun camera footage, you know, the guidance footage as they always do, to show how effective the strikes are being.

I would imagine some of the Arab countries will do so as well. We are dropping the same kind much munitions. Almost all those air forces were involved fly American aircraft. So, they are using the same target designators and everything.

So, I expect some time today, we may see some results.

ROMANS: Significance of this coalition of these five Arab countries. Turkey is not in here. Egypt is not in here. But it's Saudi Arabia, it's Bahrain, it's Qatar. We don't know the extent of Qatar's involvement, probably not dropping bombs, but Qatar is involved.

What is the significance of these countries?

FRANCONA: Huge. I mean, this is a real major achievement for the administration. They said they were going to put together a coalition, and everybody sort of expected, yes, it would be the same NATO countries that always do this.

But they were able to get Arab countries to do this. And that's significant, because when you get Arabs involved taking on other Arabs. That shows how serious they take this threat. To get the Jordanians in there is a real get.

BERMAN: They don't like to get involved. They are in the middle of everything. It's very dangerous for them.

FRANCONA: Right. The Saudis, you should expect them to be -- Saudis have a pretty good military. And, of course, they feel threatened. They have been directly threatened. The others, very good.

BERMAN: But the ISIS -- it speaks to the ISIS pr machine that has been terrifying the world that these countries that usually don't get involved in their backyards are involved.

FRANCONA: Well, I think it may have backfired on them.

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ROMANS: On ISIS? The PR campaign?

FRANCONA: Yes. I mean, they thought they were going to scare these guys into submission. And all they did was galvanized them and said, well, maybe we better start cooperating with the United States and take these guys out before they come for us.

BERMAN: Colonel, I think there were three surprises to many of us when we woke up this morning. One was the size and the scope of coalition, five other Arab nations. The second was the timing. I think, frankly, this came a lot sooner than people thought. The administration have been giving signals that it would be weeks, maybe even months before airstrikes in Syria happen. And then the third surprise is targeting this group, the Khorasan group, this offshoot of al Qaeda. That was done just by U.S. planes and forces, not by this coalition.

Tell me about that.

FRANCONA: Well, the timing is kind of interesting because of the U.N. meetings. That is why most of us were surprised and called and said you need to get in here and look at this. The Khorasan group is really an add-on, and I think that was a smart thing to do.

They represent the valid threat. This is why you have been going through all of the extra security at airports. Everybody suspects that these guys are trying to develop a bomb they get on an aircraft. They imported the AQAP, the al Qaeda and Arabian Peninsula bombers, and their concerted effort by al Qaeda to make itself relevant again.

BERMAN: And this is not ISIS.

FRANCONA: No. This is a rival group.

ROMANS: But operating under the chaos that's been caused in Syria by ISIS.

FRANCONA: Because Syria is wide open up there. There are so many groups that can operate and they moved in, and using Jabhat al-Nusra as kind of their conduit.

BERMAN: And it does send a message. There had been a lot of critics who say that the battle against ISIS as it were would move the focus, the American focus, from the terror groups that have the capability of striking the United States.

FRANCONA: Yes, this is very important. It shows we're going to take on multiple targets and if you present a certain threat to the United States, we're going to go after you as well.

ROMANS: A big night overnight. We should be very clear. It's a very big night militarily for the U.S. and its partners in the region. What happens next? This has to keep going, right?

FRANCONA: Yes, that's a very good point.

Everybody thinks, OK, we had one night of air strikes. The way which do the campaigns and if we do it like the past, campaigns don't stop when the sun comes up. You should see these follow through. Not at tempo you saw last night. The initial blow is always very decisive and a lot of force overwhelming military force as the doctrine.

Then you keep up the pressure day and night, day and night. That's how you wear them down.

BERMAN: All right. Colonel Rick Francona, great to have you with us here. I can't remember anytime in the Obama administration where there's an operation of this scope. You have to go back to the Bush administration, the operations in Iraq to think of something like this.

FRANCONA: Nothing this large, nothing this complicated, and nothing with allied presence like this.

BERMAN: More than a decade since the United States has been involved to anything like this.

All right. Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thanks so much for being with us.

ROMANS: All right. Coming up, more on our breaking coverage of these airstrikes overnight in Syria. We're going to go live to another country in the region battling ISIS terrorists. We're going to have a live report from Iraq in just moments.

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ROMANS: Continuing now with this breaking coverage of the big story overnight. The U.S. and Arab allies launching airstrikes against ISIS in Syria -- missiles, bombers, fighter jets, drones, all hitting targets in the town of Raqqa and three other cities in Syria. This is a significant expansion of the battle against the militant group. The president warned about that in a speech earlier this month.

Now, until now, the airstrikes against the terror group were confined to Iraq. But now, we're talking about significant expansion and some hoping is a turning point on the war against ISIS.

I want to go to Iraq right now, to Irbil, Iraq, where CNN's Anna Coren is live.

Anna, you have been watching and listening U.S. airstrikes for some time, almost 200, 190 plus until now. This is the first expansion of those with other partners and in Syria. What is the reaction inside Iraq to this new phase?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we have been here for the past six weeks. Ever since those U.S. airstrikes began here in northern Iraq. And certainly, I can tell you from the officials that we spoke to in Kurdistan, they are welcoming the news that finally, there are strikes being launched in Syria. This is something that they have been calling now for weeks, you know, trying to stress the fact that they can't just focus their attention on Iraq. They need to target ISIS in their safe haven, in their sanctuary. Otherwise, this entire operation is a futile exercise.

They also welcome the fact, Christine, that there are Arab countries are involved. They say that is encouraging. But they also want there to be intensification of the air campaign here in Iraq. You have to remember that while there have been 190-plus airstrikes all from the U.S., coupled with the French over the weekend, it has been a piecemeal approach. It's been taking out ISIS targets, enemy positions and armored vehicles and convoys traveling across the plains, the deserts, which certainly hurts those on the ground, but it doesn't necessarily cause them to retreat the way that I'm sure that the majority of the public would think, that what U.S. airstrikes would causes, than to sort of scurry away. That is not happening.

ISIS is digging in and they are continuing to fight. Yes, they can't expand further, but they are not necessarily retreating the way that obviously would be hoped. Ground forces, Kurdish, Peshmerga, as well as the Iraqi security forces, they are the boots on the ground here to take the fight to ISIS, making, you know, incremental advancements. But it's not what you would expect to see after six weeks and 190 airstrikes.

So, that's why there are question marks of what is happening in Syria and whether this is going to really cripple ISIS the way that many would hope it would. Obviously, it will be interesting, Christine, to see if the flow of weapons and fighters is going to be affected now that those airstrikes had been launched in Syria. Obviously, ISIS does not recognize that border whatsoever. They consider this is all to be part of the caliphate, the Islamic state. But certainly, it will be interesting in the weeks and months ahead to see how this disrupts that flow of fighters and weapons -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Anna Coren for us live this morning in Irbil -- thanks so much.

And, John, just remarkable that you got, you know, Middle Eastern Arab nations flying right alongside U.S. fighter jets in the region.

Sunni Arab nations battling a Sunni Arab extremist group. Coming up, we're going to have much of the breaking coverage of the first U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. We're going to go live from to one of the key allied nations now involved in the fighting, the United Arab Emirates.

Our Becky Anderson is standing by there.

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BERMAN: Our breaking news, the United States and several Sunni Arab nations now carrying out airstrikes in Syria. This really intensifies the campaign against ISIS, a new page in this campaign. The strikes are hitting Raqqa, that's the de facto capital of the Islamic State, but not just Raqqa. There are three other Syrian cities hit as well.

Tomahawk missiles, 47, launched from the sea, begin the strikes against ISIS, followed by bombers, also fighters. The sites hit include a building in the governor's compound, a post office, a recruitment center.

At this moment, we have no word on casualties, but one of the big stories lines here, the surprising coalition put together by the United States involving five Arab nations.

Becky Anderson is in one of them right now, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Good morning, Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.

The wording from U.S. CentCom over the past couple of hours as to what is going on overnight was interesting, I thought. It said that there have been five nations participating in/or supporting operations against is in Syria.

Now, who are those nations? Well, it is the UAE as you rightly point out here. Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.

Now, only one of those have we been able to confirm actually participated which flew their own fighter jets over Syria and have retreated without losing pilots or planes and that being Jordan. We have been told by the Jordanian minister of state that they flown in, they participated, because they felt, they wanted to be part of this coalition of the willing, and indeed, because ISIS has infiltrated their borders.

But then you have to consider why. Why is it that these other Sunni majority countries in the Gulf would enter the fray and go out against a group that is fighting in the name of Sunni Islam? I think you come to two real areas here. Firstly, this entire region is mindful of the problem that ISIS is to date. They are also mindful of the other extremist violence. Not just the rise of political Islam. They are cross with Qatar down the road for hosting the Muslim Brotherhood as they see the rise of political Islam. But also consider this, now, I have been thinking about this and

talking to my colleagues about this. I cannot stand this up yet. But I think this play into things -- you got the likes of Saudi, Kuwait, who aren't part of this coalition yet but could be going forward, Bahrain, the UAE. Many of these Gulf countries, there have been out and out funders of groups in Syria, not lest for example, it is alleged, al-Nusra Front.

Now, I can't draw any complete lines straight to ISIS, but even the U.N. has named a number of families from this region who is certainly the seed finances of the groups in Syria that sort of in the end became that which we know today as ISIS. Now, it's fascinating to see the strikes went after the group that has been in the past aligned, has been in the past with al Nusra, and we certainly there are alleged links to Nusra from Qatar.

So, if we think about the bigger picture and the mindset here, why these countries may have gotten involved, not lest because they are U.S. allies of old, then you begin to sort of join the dots, you follow the money, and you see perhaps where the mindset sits going forward -- John.

BERMAN: Complicated web this morning, Becky, but a very key moment in this battle against ISIS.

Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-eight minutes past the hour. We have much more on those airstrikes overnight targeting ISIS in Syria. Don't go away.

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