ISISU.S. forms an international coalition to fight, defeat ISIS
The United States has announced it is forming a “core coalition” to fight Islamic State in Iraq, and has given the new group of states two weeks to finalize plans to help the Iraqi government and the Kurds in the north intensify the campaign against the militants. The core group consists of NATO members, but it is expected that Iraq’s Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf states (except Jihadists-supporting Qatar), and even Arab countries farther afield such as Egypt and Morocco, will cooperate closely with the coalition and lend support to its operations, and that some of these Sunni countries would join it.
The United States has announced it is forming a “core coalition” to fight Islamic State in Iraq, and has given the new group of states two weeks to finalize plans to help the Iraqi government and the Kurds in the north intensify the campaign against the militants.
Speaking at the NATO summit in Wales, the U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, said earlier today (Friday) that the 10-nation coalition would concentrate on shoring up those in Iraq who were fighting against ISIS, but added that Western powers would not be sending in ground troops.
“There is no containment policy for ISIL [this is an alternate acronym for ISIS],” Kerry said at the beginning of the meeting. “They’re an ambitious, avowed, genocidal, territorial-grabbing, caliphate-desiring quasi state with an irregular army, and leaving them in some capacity intact anywhere would leave a cancer in place that will ultimately come back to haunt us.”
“We need to attack them in ways that prevent them from taking over territory, to bolster the Iraqi security forces and others in the region who are prepared to take them on, without committing troops of our own,” Kerry told a meeting of the ten nations which will form the coalition. “Obviously I think that’s a red line for everybody here: no boots on the ground.”
He said the grouping should come up with detailed plans by the time the UN general assembly meets for its annual session later this month.
The Guardian reports that the ten nations are the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Poland, and Denmark.
The group does not include any Arab nation, and only one of Iraq’s six neighbors. Analysts explained, though, that since the decision to form the coalition was made at a NATO meeting, it was only natural for the initial group of coalition members to be NATO members. There is little doubt, though, that Iraq’s Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf states (except Jihadists-supporting Qatar), and even Arab countries farther afield such as Egypt and Morocco, will cooperate closely with the coalition and lend support to its operations, and that some of these Sunni countries would join it.
