From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

A new battlefront in President Obama's expanded war on terror.

Hello again, I'm Marvin Olney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues

Americans care about most. As promised, President Obama has followed airstrikes in Iraq with even bigger

air strikes in Syria. He did not get permission from Congress, but claims authority because of an imminent

threat against the U.S. from an offshoot of al-Qaeda. Strikes against ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, were joined by

five Arab countries, part of a coalition designed to show the U.S. is not going it alone.

The amount of damage is still unclear, and so is the legality of the action, as the war on terror

become a permanent U.S. policy, has the stage been set for U.S. combat forces

to go back to the Middle East.

First, here's the news.

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Hello again, Mormon, I'll be back with To the Point. The Obama administration is back in the Middle East more deeply than ever.

Months of airstrikes in Iraq were followed up overnight by even more intense attacks in Syria.

Some carried out by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates with support from Qatar.

Here's the president as he left the White House this morning on his way to the United Nations.

The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone.

Above all the people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing

...