Syrian Arab Republic was not asked for permission. On 28 August, speaking about combating ISIL in Syria, President Obama said "we don't have a strategy yet." The British Royal Air Force has been operating over Syria in a surveillance role since 21 October 2014, making the UK the first Western country other than the United States to operate in both Iraq and Syria simultaneously. Arming and training rebels At the direction of President Obama, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency played an active role since the early stages of the Syrian Civil War. The U.S. originally supplied the moderate rebels of the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal aid but soon escalated to providing training, money, and intelligence to selected rebel commanders. On 17 September 2014, the House of Representatives voted to authorize spending to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels. The United Kingdom announced in March 2015 that it would send 75 military personnel to help train moderate Syrian forces in the use of small arms, infantry tactics and basic medical skills. The training was supposed to take place in Turkey as part of the U.S.-led effort. According to the United States Department of Defense, Saudi Arabia proposed that they could provide training to Syrian rebels so they could return to Syria and battle ISIL. The effort to train a large force of Syrian rebels from anti-Assad factions to fight ISIL ultimately failed, with only 54 fighters in Division 30 trained and many captured, killed or not fighting. Multi-national airstrikes U.S. President Obama announced on 10 September 2014 that he would begin to pursue airstrikes in Syria with or without congressional approval. Starting on 22 September 2014, the U.S., Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates began airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria with fighters, bombers, and sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles. Strikes continue to take place in Syria daily. Additionally, on the first night, U.S. forces launched eight cruise missile strikes against the al-Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan. In early November early December 2014, the U.S. launched additional airstrikes against the same group. In November 2014, Morocco sent 3 F-16s to be deployed in UAE, to fight ISIL in Iraq and Syria under U.S.-led operations. On 24 December 2014, ISIL shot down a Jordanian fighter jet over Syria and captured its pilot, Jordanian air force lieutenant Muath Al-Kasasbeh. Al-Kasabeh was offered in exchange for captured ISIL fighters. Jordan offered to make