Lets go to our Becky Anderson in abu dhabi for the very latest. Becky . Reporter thank you very much indeed. Were live in the gulf. Apologize for the noise. Theres a military airport close to the cnn bureau here and its awfully windy. But these are the first air strikes yet on militants inside of syria, and they are being carried out now by the u. S. And five, five arab partner nations. The focus is on the militants selfpro gamed cclaimed capital raqqah. The pentagon is using tomahawk cruise missiles with air strikes from bombers and fighter jets. And a senior u. S. Official tells cnn so far theres been no interfeerns from Syrian Government forces, i spoke with jim sciutto just a short time ago. This is what he said. Multiple officials tonight, the start of this strike meant to be a decisive blow, going at key targets of isis, targets in the area of commandandcontrol, and resupplying. Where fighters and commanders might have been holed up for the night. This starting at nighttime, over syria. And it is still continuing, im told, until daybreak there, when we expect to get a further update on the exact number of targets and nature of targets hit. As you mentioned, five arab partners taking part. The u. S. The only nonarab participant in the strikes tonight. That is something the Obama Administration was intent on building here, making this not yet another relatively lone American Intervention but one joined by local partners. And you have those. Jordan, qatar, bahrain, saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The participation by at least try of the partners is in kinetic activity, not supporting them but taking part in those air strikes. That is extremely significant. This is just the first night. Im told that this will continue, perhaps not at the same pace that weve seen tonight and intensity. Perhaps settling into more of the pace that weve seen in the u. S. Led air campaign over iraq in recent days which is now in its sixth week, but this is the first very decisive step you might say in what promises to be a long campaign. Just one thing i might add as well, becky, ive reached out to members of the Syrian Opposition, and ive heard from the Syrian Opposition very strong support. One official telling me thank you, thank you. This is something weve been waiting for for so long. Remember, this is an administration that did not take the advice of even some of the president s own advisers to get involved in this conflict earlier, to arm some of the moderate Syrian Rebels. Hillary clinton, leon panetta had pushed for that. The president had refused, and how hes doing both those things, arming the rebels and striking isis from the air. And rosemary, i know youre with me. Im here in the uae. At least three of these arab partners involve td in kinetic action, ie dropping bombs. Were doing our work on the ground to find out exactly who is involved and how. We certainly know jordan is involved in an intelligence basis. It has military bases which are military being used by the australians for the intense yiif getting them involved in the theater of war. Youve got bahrain, qatar, jordan, saudi arabia. It does appear that qatar is involved, how . Were doing our work on that to find out. Certainly qatars been involved in the past in flying sorties, for example, over libya in 2011. Were trying to get ahold of one of the spokes men for the jordanians. And as we get more on that we will bring it to you. But as things stand today live in the gulf, it is now past 9 00 in the morning. People waking up in the United Arab Emirates and around this region to the news that u. S. Air strikes have started over syria and that there are arab partners involved in what is this coalition of the willing. Rosemary . And becky, you have lived, and youve been working in the region for some time now. And as you know, its one thick to be talk being about these five arab nations on board with the strikes on isis if syria. It is a whole different matter when you then consider whether the citizens of those five nations are on board with this. How do you expect them to respond, as you say, as they wake to the news of this . Such active roles, too, that their nations are taking. Thats a very, very interesting question. You feel a real sense of urgency in this region. Look, three, four, five years ago, if you talked to people locally here, politics was spoken about, but there was always a sense here in the gulf that you were some distance away from what was going on, certainly with the arab spring. When you speak to youngsters here, you say how did the arab spring affect you and theyre quite clear that theyre fenced from what was going on in the wider region. But its clear now that countries here in the gulf realize that they are most likely going to need to step up. And the residents also feel that. And you talk to anybody, you talk to people who are working with us here at cnn who are low tal emiraties, and they say it is very much being discussed around the dinner table. Look, theres been a problem for some time royaling, and when i allude to qatar, i allude to this problem, the rise of political islam in this region and the infewer yags that saud eye and the uae had of qatar who were hosting members of the muslim brotherhood. On the one hand youve had this sort of, not paranoia, but the fear of radical islam and that being played out in libya, for example, and then of course over the last four, five, or six months, youve seen the rise of isis. And youd be very hardpressed to find anybody in this region who didnt agree that isis is a significant threat, not just to iraq and to syria, but to the wider middle east. And there is real fear that isis on the one hand and al qaeda moving into egypt are real problems going forward. So it is interesting to see the band between the rifted countries, and in those i include uae, bahrain, kuwait, banded together over the political islam with one intention, and that is to get together to fight the scourge that is isis. So perhaps no real surprise you see these countries in this region getting on board. Were yet to work out exactly how they are on board. Remember last week, rosemary, we were talking about the coalition of the potentially unwilling. The fact that these countries were prepared to get on board and any joint effort, but what it was that they were prepared to do was still unclear. I think its becoming a lot clearer this morning, that if jim is right, out of washington as he is learning that at least three of these countries are involved in kinetic actions, that is a big step up from just providing sort of willingness and basess and humanitarian aid and hospitals theyve provided in the past. Rosemary . Becky anderson joining us from abu dhabi. For more information and reaction across the region and more importantly get an idea of more specifics on what roles these five arab nations are playing in these air strikes on isis in syria. Errol . Well, for a deeper understanding of the military strategy being used right now we want to bring in christopher harmer, an analyst for the study of war. And joins us live. Thanks for connecting with us on cnn as we track this still breaking story. Some of the new information were getting in is that some of these syrian activists claim that the u. S. And arab allies have conducted some targets against 20 bases, 20 isis bases around syria, and of course jordan now confirming to cnn that it is helping with the air campaign. So we expect more of that to happen as the region wakes up this day. But what do you make, strategically of how the u. S. Would have participated with these allies, and which countries are doing what . Weve got saudi arabia, the uae, jordan, and bahrain. Its mentioned that 20 targets were hit tonight. And that is by any accounts a massive air strike especially in comparison to what the u. S. Was doing in the last six weeks in iraq. I think there might have been a little subterfuge on the part of the american military. I think they may have deliberately undertargeted isis in iraq to lull them. Theres been an active debate on whether the United States would go into syria at all. There was by no consensus on that. We were going to attack them by onesies and twosies. And theyd be safe from american air strikes. Hitting 20 targets simultaneously massively outdoes anything weve done over the last months. This is the first time during the campaign against isis that weve seen participation from other countries. I think the american plan here is to force these Gulf Cooperation Council countries to operate together. We have been pushing the gcc to cooperate militarily for a long time, not necessarily to turn gcc into some version of nato but at least force them to adopt some common commandandcontrol, common military architecture. They have been resistant on that, and i think this is the americans saying hey, you guys have an extensional threat. So each of those countries is going to bring something slightly different to the table. Each of them has fairly modern air force capabilities. Nothing quite like the american integrated air power but each of them does bring capabilities. And what the americans are trying to do is to let each of those countries do the best job they can under the circumstances. The one thing that i think the arab countries bring that is an absolutely critical element of this is the human intelligence. The human intelligence for the u. S. Has shut down after the iraq war. We dont have any human intelligence in syria. So the american targets here, what the officers are looking for from the gulf countries is some insight as to where isis is located. Not just from a technical perspective but from a Human Network perspective. How candidate ontheground intelligence improve just over the past few weeks. When we look at james foley who was beheaded. They made an attempt to rescue him and other people who were kidnapped earlier but their intelligence was out of date. Here we are not too much later and of course it appears theyre confident enough to conduct these strikes first using sea to air tomahawk missiles and then air campaign. Where then or how, then, did this intelligence from the ground inside syria improve . Thats a great observation that less than a month ago, the United States, the most expensive and Capable Military in the world wasnt able to rescue one american journalist, yet today were able to strike 20 targets simultaneously, i think it has to lie in the Syrian Opposition. The United States had to show that we were serious that generated a certain amount of good will amongst the Syrian Opposition. That Syrian Opposition transmitted some of that information to the gcc countries that then made it back to the United States. Now the United States is not in a position really to exploit the Syrian Opposition fully yet. But there are those gcc countries that have deeper ties with the Syrian Opposition. Thats where i think the americans are getting the human Intelligence Network from. In terms of technical data for targeting, i am a little surprised and quite impressed frankly that weve been able to hit this many targets simultaneously. I thought isis would have melted back into the population. It looks to me that they made a critical mistake that the american attack would be similar to the attack against iraq where the americans were hitting one target here, another target here, wait a day, hit another target the next day. This is what we would call an alpha strike. I think we were trying to lull isis into a false sense of security and maybe in one big blow strike them in such a critical manner that we may have kriped them. We wont know for another 36 hours or so how effective it was. But maybe trying to end this early with one big strike. Live for us at 1 15 on the east coast which what i think is an interesting theory. Did we lull them into a false sense of security in iraq in order to really take them out in this campaign in syria. Certainly will take some time to get answers to those questions. You certainly are giving us some interesting information to consider. Thanks so much for staying with us on cnn. As we continue to bring in new information on this breaking story. Rosemary . And errol, the other point is because theyve been such a heads up here for isis, the worry was that anticipated to such an extent they would have moved a number of those assets. But now were hearing 20 targets. Thats significant thats huge. Were working to confirm that. Our reporter is on the border. Isis knowing and anticipating this would happen, but did the u. S. Suggest one thing and this campaign, its still early. Its still a breaking story. We dont know how it unfolded, but did this campaign try to get that moment of surprise and hopefully take out what they say are key aspects of its ability to train and gather weapons. The region just waking up to this news. Still a lot more to be answered. Well have much more and live to iraq next. Create things that help people. Design safer cars. Faster computers. Smarter grids and smarter phones. Think up new ways to produce energy. Be an engineer. Solve problems the world needs solved. What are you waiting for . Changing the world is part of the job description. Join the scientists and engineers of exxonmobil in inspiring americas future engineers. Energy lives here. Can i get my experian Credit Report. Eport card thing. Like, the one the bank sees. Sheesh, i feel like im being interrogated over here. Shes onto us. Dump her. phone ringing . Hello . Oh, man. That never gets old. No it does not. Not all Credit Report sites are equal. Experian. Com members get personalized help and an experian Credit Report. Join now at experian. Com with enrollment in experian credit tracker sm. Iwith something terrible to admit. I treated thousands of patients, risked their lives, while high on prescription drugs. I was an addict. Im recovered now, but an estimated 500,000 medical professionals are still out there, abusing drugs or alcohol. Police, airline pilots, bus drivers. Theyre randomly tested for drugs and alcohol. But not us doctors. You can change that vote yes on proposition 46. Your lives are in our hands. Welcome back, everyone, to our continuing coverage of the first u. S. Air strikes against isis targets in syria. Heres the latest information we have for you right now. The u. S. And the coalition of arab partners began bombing isis targets early tuesday, focusing on the militant stronghold of raqqah. Activists on the ground say multiple buildings were hit, including the governors compound, a post office and a recruitment center. So far, no word on casualties. Saudi arabia, the United Arab Emirates, jordan and bahrain are participating in the air strikes. Within the last few minutes, jordan confirmed its involvement in the strikes to cnn. Diplomatic forces tell us qatar is involved but its role is unclear at this point. Syrian state media says the u. S. Informed the syrian representative to the u. N. In advance about the air strikes. All right, want to head to iraq now. Cnns anna coren joins me now from erbil. Its just after 8 20 in the morning there inn erbil. Give us an idea whether theres been any reaction to these u. S. Led strikes with five arab partners. What are people saying on the ground there, what are they hoping to see and how quickly do they think the mission can be achieved . Reporter well, rosemary, i think there really is a feeling that finally, finally they are going after isis in syria, which of course is their safe haven, their sanctuary, and as to the city of raqqah. That is the de facto capital for isis. The iraqis have been saying all along that you cant just target the militants here in iraq. Going after member in syria is critical. Otherwise this entire exercise is completely futile. But certainly, what were hearing from the Kurdish Regional government up here in erbil is that this is welcomed. That this is a very important step in the war against isis. They believe that having this International Coalition attack isis in syria is critical. But they are also calling, rosemary, for an intensification of the air campaign here in iraq. There have been 190 air strikes to date launched by the United States, and more recently by france. But there is a real feeling and criticism perhaps that its a real piecemeal approach. Yes, they are taking out enemy positions. Those armored convoys, the artillery and mortar. But its here and there, rosemary, and while its probably stopping the advance of isis in iraq its not pushing them back. They are not retreating. And thats after six weeks of air strikes. So i dont think we can get carried away as to what is going to be taking place in syria. Yes, theyve hit them hard. Theyve hit them in raqqah. Theres hopes that they will hit them in cabaun eye, which is where we have seen that fighting in the last few days and obviously that flood of refugees heading towards syria, unwards of 200,000 people crossing the border into turkey. But it isnt something that is going to defeat isis. And thats what we can testify to, having witnessed the campaign here in iraq, rosemary. Yeah. I see your point. There would be some concern here, too. With all the focus initially on iraq. Now, of course, this incredible refocus turning to syria and whats happening there. There would be a fear no doubt on the ground there in iraq that it maying ignored in the course of this. And of course youve spent a lot of time with the peshmerga fighters and the importance of having troops on the ground. No talk of that at this point in syria, but its going to be very critical, isnt it . Whats being said about that part, presumably the next phase of this attack in syria . Reporter yeah, an important point, rosemary, because, you know, at least they do have troops on the ground here in iraq. They have the peshmerga, the Kurdish Forces as well as the security, the Iraqi Security forces. But as weve heard from the United State