Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States said Arab militaries have joined in operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Officials said at least five Arab states participated or supported air strikes against ISIL in Syria on late Sept. 22.

The officials said Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates attacked ISIL positions in northern Syria while Qatar played a supporting role.

“Once we had one of them on board, the others followed quickly thereafter,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

Officials said the air strikes marked unprecedented military cooperation between Washington and the Arab world. Arab states have not joined a U.S.-led coalition in the Middle East since the Gulf war in 1991.

The military’s Central Command said Arab states used a range of air assets against ISIL. Centcom said the attacks destroyed or damaged ISIL targets around the northern Syrian provinces of Dir Al Zour, Hasakeh and Raqaa.

“[They] included ISIL fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance center, supply trucks and armed vehicles,” Centcom said on Sept. 22.

Officials said the air strikes killed or injured scores of ISIL fighters. They said about two-thirds of ISIL’s total strength of 31,000 were in Syria.

The Arab states were said to have sent 12 warplanes to northern Syria. Officials said Saudi Arabia deployed at least four U.S.-origin F-15 fighter-jets to strike the ISIL positions.

The U.S. military also targeted a new Al Qaida group called Khorasan, based in the Aleppo province. Centcom said eight Khorasan targets, including training camps, munitions production facility and command and control centers, were struck.

Officials said Khorasan was assigned by Al Qaida chief Ayman Zawahiri to recruit Westerners for mass-casualty attacks in Europe and the United States. They said Khorasan was testing bombs that could be slipped on aircraft and ships.

“The intelligence reports indicated that the Khorasan group was in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks against Western targets and potentially the U.S. homeland,” Gen. William Mayville, operations director at the Joint Chiefs, said.

  Central Command, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Gulf Arab jet fighters joined U.S. strikes on ISIL, Khorasan, Khorasan targets