The United States and partner nations have begun striking Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, using a mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles, the Pentagon said Monday night.

"I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles," said Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby in a statement.

The IS, an al-Qaida splinter group, is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"Given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position to provide additional details at this time," he said.

Kirby said the decision to conduct the strikes, granted by President Barack Obama, was made earlier in the day by Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command.

"We will provide more details later as operationally appropriate," he added.

Citing a senior Defense Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack, the USA Today reported that the attack, carried out by warplanes dropping bombs and ships firing cruise missiles, hit about 20 IS targets, including headquarters buildings for the militants who have based their movement in Syria.

Aircraft from allied Arab nations participated in the strikes, the official was quoted as saying.

At present, about two thirds of the estimated 30,000 IS fighters are based in Syria. The remainder have captured large parts of northern Iraq, although their momentum has been blunted there by U.S. fighter, bomber and drone aircraft.

For the last several weeks, U.S. spy planes have been flying over Syria collecting intelligence on potential IS targets.

So far, there have been 190 U.S. airstrikes on IS targets in Iraq since bombing there started on Aug. 8, according to a statement released Monday by the U.S. Central Command.

Last week, Congress and Obama agreed to fund a 500-million-U.S. dollar program designed to recruit, train and equip a force of moderate opposition Syrians, who will be trained in Saudi Arabia to defend their communities against IS fighters and Syrian government forces.

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