BAGHDAD/EDGARTOWN: The US military earlier this summer carried out an attempt to rescue journalist James Foley and other American hostages held in Syria, a US official said, in an operation that the Pentagon said ultimately failed to find the captives.
Foley, 40, was beheaded by an Islamic State militant in a video that surfaced on the Internet on Tuesday. President Barack Obama expressed revulsion on Wednesday at the execution and vowed the United States would do what it must to protect its citizens.
The unsuccessful rescue operation ‘involved air and ground components and was focused on a particular captor network within ISIL,’ the Pentagon said in a statement, using a different name for the militant group. ‘Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location.’
Officials would not say exactly when the operation took place but said it was not in the last couple of weeks.
Obama authorized the mission ‘earlier this summer,’ Lisa Monaco, Obama’s top counterterrorism aide, said in a separate statement. ‘The President authorized action at this time because it was the national security team’s assessment that these hostages were in danger with each passing day in ISIL custody,’ she said.
Islamic State said Foley’s execution, which prompted widespread horror that could push Western powers into further action against the group, was in revenge for US airstrikes in Iraq.
The Pentagon said US aircraft conducted 14 airstrikes in the vicinity of Iraq’s Mosul Dam, destroying or damaging militants’ Humvees, trucks and explosives.
Britain’s prime minister cut short his vacation as UK intelligence tried to identify Foley’s killer, while France called for international coordination against the Islamist militants fighting in Syria and Iraq.
US officials said on Wednesday that intelligence analysts had concluded that the Islamic State video, titled ‘A Message to America,’ was authentic. It also showed images of another US journalist, Steven Sotloff, whose fate the group said depends on how the United States acts in Iraq.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was not surprised to hear the British accent and that large numbers of British nationals were fighting in Iraq and Syria.
‘Our services will be looking very carefully on both sides of the Atlantic at this video to establish its authenticity, to try to identify the individual concerned and then we will work together to try to locate him,’ Hammond told Sky news.
France said it wanted the permanent members of the UN Security Council and regional countries, including Arab states and Iran, to coordinate action against Islamic State. President Francois Hollande called for an international conference to discuss how to tackle the group.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned ‘the horrific murder of journalist James Foley, an abominable crime that underscores the campaign of terror the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant continues to wage against the people of Iraq and Syria,’ UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari urged the world to back his country against Islamic State, which he described as a threat to the world, not just to the minority ethnic groups whose members it has killed in Iraq.
Germany and Italy said they were ready to send arms to bolster the military capabilities of Iraqi Kurds fighting Islamic State in northern Iraq.
Sending arms into conflict zones is a major departure for Germany, which has often shied away from direct involvement in military conflicts since World War Two due to its Nazi past.
The video’s message was unambiguous, warning of greater retaliation to come against Americans following nearly two weeks of US airstrikes that have pounded militant positions and halted the advance of Islamic State, which until this month had captured a third of Iraq with little resistance.(Reuters)
