Obama: U.S., Arab Allies Attack Islamic State Headquarters

President Obama addressed on Tuesday a series of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that focused on the strongholds of the Islamic State, saying the United States is not alone in its fight to destroy the terrorist organization.

Before leaving for New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly, Obama told reporters that many Arabic countries are involved in the fight against the Islamic State, saying the international support "makes it clear to the world this is not America's fight alone."

"We're going to do what's necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group," the president added.

The president said the U.S. and five Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar collaborated on Monday in attacking the headquarters of the Islamic State, located in eastern Syria. The attack comes after the Islamic State issued a statement Monday mocking President Obama and encouraging international supporters to attack western countries.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Tuesday that the airstrikes targeted the Islamic State headquarters because "We wanted to make sure that ISIL knew they have no safe haven, and we certainly achieved that."

Dempsey stressed the importance of the Arab role in this current strategy against the Islamic State, saying: "I can't overstate" the importance of the countries' participation. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff added that once one Arab country signed on to the plan, others were quick to follow. "Once we had one of them on board, the others followed quickly thereafter."

"We now have a kind of credible campaign against ISIL that includes a coalition of partners."