Rights of same-sex military spouses vary by state

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — On the wall over her bunk in Kuwait, Marine Cpl. Nivia Huskey proudly displays a collection of sonogram printouts of the baby boy her pregnant spouse is carrying back home in North Carolina. If all goes as planned, the 28-year-old military policewoman will return to Camp Lejeune in time for a January delivery at an on-base hospital.

But the space on the baby's birth certificate marked "Father" will be left blank.

Though her wedding in Washington, D.C., to Jessica Painter Huskey is recognized by the federal government, including the military, Nivia Huskey is assigned to a battalion based in North Carolina, where state law bans same-sex marriage. She is barred from legally adopting her spouse's biological child, and will have no legal recognition as a parent.

Last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act ensured that federal military benefits extend to same-sex partners and their children.

But about two-thirds of active-duty personnel in the U.S. are based in states that don't recognize gay marriages, leaving thousands of military families missing out on legal rights they would enjoy if Uncle Sam had stationed them elsewhere.

At their home near Edwards Air Force Base north of Los Angeles, Lt. Col. Ivan Acosta and his husband, George Guthrie, enjoy the benefits of living in a state that recognizes their relationship. In April 2013, they jointly adopted a baby girl named Emma. Both men are listed as parents on their daughter's passport and birth certificate.

"That is definitely why we would want to stay in California," said Acosta, a 39-year-old aerospace engineer. "It's something that we have to think about that most straight couples do not have to think about."

Same-sex marriage is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Challenges in other states continue to make their way through the courts, many of them successfully.

A three-judge federal appeals panel recently upheld a lower court ruling striking down Virginia's same-sex marriage ban, a legal precedent considered binding on a judge currently considering the constitutionality of North Carolina's very similar prohibition.

The Virginia ruling, like similar cases in a slew of states, remains on hold and appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Huskeys both grew up in an area dominated by peach orchards outside Gaffney, South Carolina. They were good friends in high school and began dating while in college.

Nivia Huskey enlisted with the Marine Corps within days of the 2012 repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." They got married last year, just before the Marine shipped out for a war tour in Afghanistan.

Currently in Kuwait, Nivia Huskey was not available for an interview.

Jessica Huskey spoke at their tidy house outside Jacksonville, a short drive north of the sprawling base where her spouse is posted when stateside. The home is filled with photos and keepsakes of their nearly 10 years together.

A lawyer, Jessica Huskey has put a lot of thought into the potential legal implications of what will happen if their baby is born before the law changes. When a married heterosexual woman has a child in North Carolina, the law presumes her husband to be the biological father - even if the child was in reality conceived through an extramarital affair or by using a reproductive donor.

"A straight couple could be in the exact position we are, their child conceived in the exact same way, but automatically that parent is considered to be the other parent, regardless," Jessica Huskey said. "That isn't fair."

With her spouse barred from having any parental rights, she worries what might happen if she were to get sick or die in an accident. Though she intends to draft a will expressing her desire for their son to remain with her wife, there is no guarantee a state judge will follow those wishes - especially if Jessica Huskey's blood relatives fight for custody.

In an emergency, Nivia Huskey won't be able to make health care decisions on behalf of their child without presenting a medical power of attorney signed by Jessica Huskey. When it comes time to register for public school, the Marine once again won't be recognized as a parent.

"What other parent has to carry around a power-of-attorney for their child?" Jessica Huskey asked. "How much sense does that make?"

The baby will qualify for federal family benefits through Nivia Huskey's military service, but only if she registers the child as her stepson.

"I know that's hard to swallow for Nivia," Jessica Huskey said. "For her, that's not her stepchild. That's her son."

Acosta and his husband feel lucky not have to worry about such legal headaches. The military gave him three weeks of paternity leave to be home with his new baby. Emma, now 2, goes to an on-base day care. They are in the process of adopting a second child.

Unlike enlisted men and women, officers are sometimes given some say in where they are posted. Acosta, who is from Florida, said he has requested to be allowed to stay where he is.

"If we went to a different state that didn't recognize (our marriage), I'm not sure of all the challenges but I'm sure it wouldn't be as easy as in California," he said.

The northwestern corner of South Carolina where the Huskeys grew up is very socially conservative. Both were raised in fundamentalist churches and even some members of their immediate families still see their marriage as an abomination. By speaking out now, the Huskeys hope more people will learn to accept their marriage and their choice to have a child.

"We grew up in the South. This is home to us," Jessica Huskey said. "I just think we want things to change here. We'd like to see our family recognized as any other family."

Associated Press writer Julie Watson reported from San Diego.

Fire Scout drone helicopters being deployed to Pacific

The Navy will soon deploy unmanned surveillance helicopters to the Pacific for the first time, according to defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

Four MQ-8B Fire Scouts will be aboard the USS Fort Worth — one of several new fast, shallow-water vessels known as littoral combat ships – when it leaves San Diego later this year, Northrop Grumman Fire Scout project manager Tom Twomey said this week.

The ship’s deployment to the Asia-Pacific theater will mark the start of a continuous LCS presence in the region, according to the Navy.

The presence of the surveillance helicopters is sure to spark interest in a region where airborne cameras and sensors are multiplying rapidly.

The Air Force has been flying its unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance planes from Guam since 2010 and deployed them this summer to Misawa Air Base in Japan, a close U.S. ally that is seeking to boost its own surveillance capabilities following clashes with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea. There also are continuous concerns about North Korea.

Chinese officials do not appear to appreciate the increased attention.

China’s state-run New China News Agency reported this month that Chinese official Fan Changlong advised visiting U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice that America “should reduce and ultimately stop” its spy missions on China.

The demand came less than a month after a Chinese twin-engine J-11B fighter intercepted a manned Navy P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting aircraft over international waters about 135 miles east of Hainan island in the South China Sea.

Ralph Cossa, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Hawaii, said the deployment of the unmanned helicopters to the Pacific should surprise nobody.

“The U.S. said it was going to be focusing on the Pacific and 60 percent of its naval assets would be in the Pacific,” he said. “It is just putting their fleet where their mouth is.”

Surveillance capability is important in the region, and unmanned helicopters are a state-of-the-art tool, he said.

“You are going to put them into areas where surveillance is most important,” he said. “One would think the Pacific would be a priority recipient for those types of platforms.”

Fire Scouts are at sea in the Mediterranean aboard the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a guided-missile frigate. They are being tested ahead of deployments on the USS Simpson, a guided-missile frigate, and the USS Coronado, another LCS, Twomey said.

The aircraft, which can fly 41/2 hours before refueling, will also be demonstrated aboard Coast Guard cutter Burtholf in December at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif., Twomey said.

The MQ-8B — based on the manned Schweizer 330SP helicopter — can be configured for surface or countermine warfare. It can carry radar and electro-optical sensors as well as cameras that can record full-motion video, he said.

“The largest thing our aircraft can provide is persistence,” Twomey said. “And it doesn’t put pilots in harm’s way. If you put it into a contested area and it gets shot down, nobody dies.”

Commanders have the option of launching multiple Fire Scouts, something that doesn’t happen with manned helicopters because of the risk of an accident blocking deck space and preventing a helicopter from landing, he said.

“The Navy has no qualms about flying two (Fire Scouts) at the same time so that gives them more flexibility with missions,” he said.

Northrop has produced 23 MQ-8Bs and 19 larger MQ-8Cs, based on a manned Bell 407 helicopter, he said.

Taking away the crew and adding a 403-gallon fuel tank extends the Bell 407’s flight time from four to 12 hours, Twomey said.

The MQ-8C has twice the range and can carry three times the payload of the smaller model. It’s being tested at Point Mugu and preparing for take-offs and landings from the USS Jason Dunham, a destroyer out of Norfolk, Va., in December, Twomey said.

Less time between refueling stops means fewer personnel are needed at sea to support the MQ-8C, he said.

Northrop is looking at sensor packages that could enable the unmanned helicopters to add anti-submarine warfare to their repertoire, he said.

robson.seth@stripes.com

Twitter: @SethRobson1

Bacteria discovered in Kadena Air Base water

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Air Force officials are urging caution after the discovery of bacteria in a water system servicing 43 buildings on Kadena Air Base.

Total coliform bacteria, found this week in eight of 12 samples, was attributed to a temporary water line at a construction site near the base’s expansive flight line, base officials said. The bacteria is naturally present and generally not harmful; however, it is a known indicator for more serious pollutants including fecal contamination.

Civil engineers are flushing the system while they review the project, and bioenvironmental engineers are performing increased sampling, Air Force officials said. Further testing has come back negative for the more harmful fecal coliform, E. coli.

The issue is expected to be resolved in the next couple of days.

“The drinking water on Kadena AB has been consistently safe and in compliance with all applicable drinking water standards,” 18th Wing spokesman Staff Sgt. Alexy Saltekoff wrote in a statement provided to Stars and Stripes. “This has been proven through the year-round results of a comprehensive water testing program.”

The discovery came during assessment of a construction project near Bldg. 718, an Air Force statement said. The samples that tested positive came from Bldg. 718, and two service connections next door. The buildings that were potentially affected are all work centers, Saltekoff said.

One, Bldg. 714, is used to house personnel attending the Kadena Noncommissioned Officers Academy. No children stay there. None of the other buildings include family housing, schools or work centers.

Despite the low risk, base officials suggested that people working and living in the affected buildings boil water before drinking even though it is not required by the EPA.

The pathogens often associated with the bacteria can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting and could lead to more serious health problems with at-risk groups, including those with compromised immune systems, the young and the elderly, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Air Force officials said they maintain strict standards when it comes to the bacteria: two positive tests in a month will trigger mitigation.

It’s the second time in six months that Kadena has had a water issue. In May, lead was discovered in water fountains at a Department of Defense Education Activity building used to screen children for developmental issues.

Kadena’s water is treated and purchased locally, Saltekoff said. Kadena officials said they check 924 samples annually and test for bacteria every week with a minimum of 41 samples taken per month.

When a sample comes back as containing a contaminant, base officials immediately take to social media and their website with updates. Base officials said the notices do not necessarily mean the water is harmful.

For more information, contact Bioenvironmental Engineering at 634-4752 or visit http://ift.tt/1ugHTHc.

burke.matt@stripes.com

NATO's outgoing chief: 'We cut fat, built muscle"

BRUSSELS — When Anders Fogh Rasmussen took over at NATO, the alliance was struggling to contain a growing insurgency in Afghanistan, and some predicted it would soon follow its Cold War foe, the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, into the dustbin of history.

Five years later, as Rasmussen wraps up his tenure as the 12th secretary-general in NATO's history, the U.S., Canada and their European allies are again squaring off against the Russians, and must confront a more diverse and bewildering array of threats to Western security than ever.

"We should be prepared to address all of them, whether it is a conventional threat against our territory, or what I would call hybrid warfare as we have seen in Ukraine - a sophisticated Russian mix of conventional military operations and information and disinformation campaigns - or terrorism as we see it in Iraq, or cyberattacks or missile attacks," Rasmussen told The Associated Press in a farewell interview.

"All this is part of today's security environment and NATO must stand ready to protect our societies and our populations against all those threats," said Rasmussen.

The 61-year-old Dane's last day as the U.S.-led defense alliance's top civilian official is Sept. 30. In one of his last official acts, he was scheduled to deliver a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday.

On Rasmussen's watch, NATO continued to wage what has been the longest and most extensive military operation in its 65-year history in Afghanistan, a campaign that is supposed to come to an end this December.

"Rasmussen played a valuable role in helping convince NATO members to contribute additional forces to President Barack Obama's surge strategy," said Jorge Benitez, senior fellow for trans-Atlantic security at the Washington, D.C.-based Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. "This was a major accomplishment because the momentum had been for allies to decrease their commitments in Afghanistan."

Rasmussen, a former center-right prime minister of Denmark, was also in charge when NATO provided air cover to the rebel militias that brought down Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

An important lesson he drew from that conflict and the ensuing chaos, Rasmussen told AP, was that the international community must get involved faster when a repressive regime is overthrown, in order to improve the chances for a desirable and stable outcome.

Earlier this year, when Russian's military occupied and annexed Crimea, then began what the Western governments called a "stealth invasion" of eastern Ukraine, Rasmussen loudly and repeatedly voiced his outrage - and worked hard in public and behind the scenes to help forge trans-Atlantic unity and an effective and credible military response.

Europe's most acute geopolitical crisis since the demise of the Soviet Union was a reminder that NATO's original mission - defense of its own members against Russian aggression - was still urgently relevant, and Rasmussen rose to the challenge, one Dutch analyst said.

"He took the opportunity to put NATO on the map," said Margriet Drent, senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations. "Until then, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO was still looking for its purpose."

It may take time to determine the ultimate effectiveness of many changes enacted during the Rasmussen years. These include the alliance's new "strategic concept," or mission statement, approved in 2010, and the "smart defense" initiative to foster greater cooperation among the 28 NATO member countries in acquiring and using military capabilities.

Similarly, it is difficult to predict the future of Afghanistan, where a 13-year-old war against the Taliban continues and two rival candidates for the nation's presidency have just reached a power-sharing agreement. Some have also questioned whether NATO has done enough to discourage the expansionist ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Rasmussen told AP he has no regrets.

"We have reformed our alliance, streamlined structures, so all in all it's fair to say we have cut fat and built muscle during my tenure as secretary general," he said. "And I hope and I trust it will be remembered for some years."

He will be succeeded at NATO by a former Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who takes office Oct. 1. To achieve a seamless transition, he and Rasmussen have been talking by phone - as Scandinavians, they understand each other's language - and alliance officials have been flying to Oslo to bring Stoltenberg up to speed.

Earlier this month, Obama and the other NATO heads of state and government met in Wales, and issued an ambitious to-do list for the alliance that took up a large part of their 24-page Summit Declaration. On the list is a Readiness Action Plan meant to reinforce the defenses of alliance members in central and eastern Europe skittish about Putin's intentions, and to deter any hostile moves by the Kremlin.

A key component of the plan is creation of a highly mobile multinational "spearhead" force that could be sent at short notice to Poland, the Baltic states or any other NATO member at risk. Implementing the Readiness Action Plan "will be the first very important issue for Mr. Stoltenberg," said Rasmussen.

Islamic State offensive poses problems for Turkey

SURUC, Turkey — Fierce fighting Monday between the Islamic State militant group and Kurdish forces just over the border in Syria brought the battle closer to Turkey, triggering a surge of tens of thousands of refugees and raising pressure for the government to step up efforts to take on the Sunni extremists. Meanwhile, the United States and five Arab countries launched the first airstrikes in Syria against Islamic State fighters.

The Islamic State group's offensive against the Syrian city of Kobani, a few miles from the border, has sent 130,000 refugees to seek safety in Turkey in the last few days. The conflict in Syria had already led to more than 1 million people flooding over the border in the past 3 1/2 years.

As the fighting intensified near the Turkish border, the Pentagon said a mix of manned aircraft - fighter jets and bombers - plus Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from U.S. ships in the northern Persian Gulf and the Red Sea targeted the Islamic State group in Syria.

U.S. officials said the airstrikes began around 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT), and were conducted by the U.S., Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The first wave of strikes finished about 90 minutes later, but the operation was expected to continue for several more hours, according to one U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly by name about an ongoing mission.

Because the military operation was ongoing, no details could be provided yet, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary. He said the military made the decision to strike early Monday. A White House official said Obama was being updated.

Some of the airstrikes were against Islamic State group headquarters in Raqqa in eastern Syria. Military officials have said the U.S. would target militants' command and control centers, re-supply facilities, training camps and other key logistical sites.

The strikes were part of the expanded military campaign that President Barack Obama's authorized nearly two weeks ago in order to disrupt and destroy the Islamic State militants, who have slaughtered thousands of people, beheaded U.S. and British captives, and captured a large swath of territory in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. has already launched 190 airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq since an aerial campaign began Aug. 8.

As the Islamic State fighters pushed into Kurdish territory in Syria near the Turkish border, the government in Ankara is facing increasing pressure to step up efforts to take on the Islamic State extremists.

Turkey is resisting because it fears that arming Kurdish men to fight the group could complicate peace talks with Turkish insurgents within its own borders.

The Islamic State group's offensive against the Syrian city of Kobani, a few miles from the border, has sent 130,000 refugees to seek safety in Turkey in the last few days. The conflict in Syria had already led to more than 1 million people flooding over the border in the past 3 1/2 years.

But in addition to the refugee crisis, hundreds of Kurds in and around this city near the frontier have clashed with Turkish police, who fired tear gas and water cannons. The Kurds say Turkey is hampering their efforts to let them cross into Syria and help their brethren.

An 18-year-old Turkish citizen in Suruc said he wanted to join the Kurdish fighters in Syria. He identified himself only by his first name of Azam for fear of reprisal from authorities.

"The Islamic State is on the other side of the border and moving freely, slaughtering people, but they are just sitting and watching," he said of the Turkish authorities.

"If I get a chance to get a weapon, I'll go to help our brothers by end of the day," he said. "Kobani is our land, too, and people there are our people."

Syrian Kurdish fighters were crossing back and forth over the border, while other Syrian Kurds were seen selling livestock to raise money for weapons.

Not far away on the border, the black flag of the Islamic State could be seen flying in a captured Syrian village along with the smoke from mortar fire.

Spillover from the Syria poses a problem for Turkey. The only local fighters capable of resisting the Islamic State group are Syrian Kurds aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Turkish officials have said PKK militants from Turkey are streaming to Syria to join the fight. The conflict in Syria already is inflaming tensions with Turkish Kurds and could undermine peace talks with the PKK. Turkey's ambivalence about the fight between Kurds and the Islamic State group, which could leave the PKK either drained or emboldened, could further complicate its participation in a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.

While joining the coalition, Turkey had declined to take part in combat, citing the Turkish hostages held by the Islamic State group in Mosul, Iraq. But even after the 46 Turks and three Iraqis were freed, Turkey has not changed its stance.

Turkish government officials have not revealed how they managed to secure the release of the captives. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied paying a ransom but has been vague on whether there was a prisoner swap.

Erdogan indicated for the first time Monday that his country may have traded Islamic State group prisoners it held captive in exchange for the Turkish hostages held by the militants.

Asked about it in New York on Monday, Erdogan said "such things may be possible." He said Israel released 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Israeli hostage. "So you see, it's possible," he added.

Speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, Erdogan tried to sidestep the question.

"This process that took 102 days involved an operation by the national intelligence agency ... it was a historic, very important process," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington now expects Turkey to step up in the fight against the militants.

Erdogan has said that Turkey will discuss its participation in the coalition during this month's U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. ally and member of the NATO military alliance has made commitments of only limited help in the fight against the Islamic State group, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and rules by its harsh version of Islamic law.

The U.S. is looking for major participation from nations in the region in the campaign to destroy the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama has pledged that no American troops will be involved in combat missions against the group, and the U.S. expects nations in the region to provide those.

The Islamic State group released a new audio recording online late Sunday in which a spokesman urged Muslims worldwide to kill civilians of those nations that join the fight. A French citizen was kidnapped in Algeria by an al-Qaida splinter group that said it will kill him unless France ends its participation in airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq, officials said.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday he remained hopeful that Turkey would participate in the coalition.

"We need Turkey, frankly," he said during a visit to Croatia, because of its military capability, regional influence and political gravitas in the Muslim world.

But Turkey may also have questions for the U.S., if the support that Washington gives to Kurds in Iraq is extended to the Kurds fighting in Syria. Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters are already starting to get training by Iraq's Western allies in fighting the Islamic State group.

"The U.S. says it will make sure that arms won't go to the PKK, but this isn't possible," said Hasan Koni, a professor of international law at Istanbul's Kultur University. He added that the tensions have brought the peace process to its most difficult phase as Kurds question Turkey's ambivalent stance in their fight in Syria and Iraq.

"The Kurds could say: what kind of a peace is this? We are being strung along," he said.

Turkish authorities may have concerns that Turkey's Kurds, bolstered by Western arms and emboldened by battlefield success, could harden their demands on the government in Ankara.

Beyond the political questions, the conflict is adding to a huge burden for Turkey. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus warned that the number of Syrians crossing the border could rise further to "a refugee wave that can be expressed by hundreds of thousands."

"This is not a natural disaster. ... What we are faced with is a manmade disaster," Kurtulmus said of the surge of mostly women, children and the elderly that started late Thursday.

Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Mohammed Rasool in Suruc, Turkey, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut and contributed to this report.

Activision hires Rudy Giuliani to fight Noriega's 'Call of Duty' suit

Rudy Giuliani is back to denouncing "an evil, heinous criminal," as he put it. This time, it's Manuel Noriega.

Activision Blizzard Inc. has hired the former New York City mayor who presided during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to fight a lawsuit brought by the former military dictator of Panama over his depiction in the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”

Activision plans to file a request to dismiss the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, the Santa Monica company said.

Noriega is seeking royalties and damages for the use of his likeness in the hit video game without his permission.

Activision’s main argument is that Noriega’s fame derives from being a key figure in political events, not from any sort of “creative labor.” Creators of books, TV shows, movies and video games should be able to borrow from history to express context and add some “historical flavor,” according to Activision.

Courts have sometimes treated video games differently from other forms of creative content, and bringing Giuliani on board suggests Activision wants to put a quick end to that.

"We’re doing it for an entire community of movies, video games and books -- this whole art form of historical fiction," Giuliani, a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, said in a phone interview. "The attack on video games is no different than movies, books. They are all the same for free-speech protection."

Lawyers for Noriega did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Other public figures are depicted in "Black Ops II," including former U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, and there's a ship called U.S.S. Barack Obama.

Giuliani said if Noriega can get away with this, "Osama bin Laden's relatives could sue [the film] 'Zero Dark Thirty' and we could go on and on."

He pointed to the 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association as the "prevailing authority that movie games are no different than movies and books." In the 7-2 decision, the court struck down a California law that banned the sale of violent video games to children after finding that video games were a form of protected speech.

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US airstrikes begin in Syria, Pentagon says

The U.S. military expanded its war against the Islamic State late Monday by sending waves of warplanes and launching Tomahawk missiles into Syria to attack an array of targets in an aggressive and risk-laden operation that marks a new phase in the conflict.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said late Monday that U.S. commanders had deployed a mix of fighter jets and bombers and had also launched ship-based Tomahawk missiles against Islamic State targets in Syria. He said the operations were ongoing and that more details would not be released until after the strikes were finished.

Kirby said in a statement that “partner nation forces” were also involved in the attacks but did not identify which other countries participated.

Two U.S. defense officials identified the partner nations as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. One official described them as “full participants” in the airstrikes in Syria but did not give further details, saying it was up to those countries to fully disclose their roles.

Residents of the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa — the Islamic State’s self-declared capital — reported news of large explosions on Twitter and said repeated passes from military aircraft were clearly audible.

The United States was planning to attack as many as 20 Islamic State targets in the operation, which would mark the biggest single day of attacks since the military began striking the jihadist group in Iraq on Aug. 8, according to a senior U.S. military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the planned operation.

The targets of Monday’s operation included buildings occupied by Islamic State leaders and the group’s training sites and arsenals, according to the U.S. military official, who said drones were also involved in the attacks.

President Obama and other U.S. leaders had all but promised in recent days that they would order airstrikes against Islamic State strongholds in Syria. The jihadist movement — which the CIA estimates has up to 31,000 fighters at its disposal — controls much of eastern Syria and has used its bases there as a springboard for seizing territory in neighboring Iraq.

But in ordering the attacks, Obama also thrust the U.S. military directly into Syria’s devastating civil war, something that he had steadfastly tried to avoid since the country began breaking apart in 2011.

Obama was on the cusp of ordering U.S. military strikes in Syria a year ago to punish President Bashar al-Assad after strong evidence emerged that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against civilians. Obama backed away at the last minute, however, when Syria agreed to an international plan to destroy its massive chemical weapons arsenal.

This time, the Americans’ target is not Assad, who has managed to cling to his seat in Damascus, but the Islamic State, a one-time al-Qaeda affiliate that has exploited the chaos in Syria to attract a huge flow of recruits, weapons and money.

The Islamic State also represents a mortal threat to Assad and has beaten back his forces on several fronts. The Obama administration has said repeatedly it would not cooperate with Assad in any way, even though the two sides now share an enemy.

As a result, it was unclear how Assad’s armed forces would respond to unauthorized intrusions into Syrian airspace by U.S. warplanes.

The Syrian government has some of the most formidable air defenses in the Middle East. Obama had publicly warned Syria in advance not to interfere with any U.S. operations against the Islamic State, saying the Pentagon would respond forcefully. In the end, U.S. military planners said they expected Assad would stand down and allow them to attack Islamic State targets freely.