The United States is further along in its coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as other world powers vowed to pledge support in the attacks against the militants’ stronghold in the region.
Reuters reported representatives from the United Nations Security Council, European and Arab States, the European Union, Arab League and the United Nations took part in a conference in Paris to address the mounting posted by ISIS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a few days after Pres. Barack Obama declared war against the extremist group.
France echoed US’ call to aid moderate rebels in Syria and declared they would start conducting airstrikes against militants in Iraq, The Guardian reported.
Other world leaders agreed to support Iraq through military and humanitarian means as ISIS slowly conquers northern parts of the country. However, they made no mention of Syria, where ISIS controls vast territories.
Syria did not attend the event, nor did their major ally Iran, which has already rejected a US-led coalition, as they see it as “hollow and self-serving” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, adding that the West would only expand its influence and power in the region through legitimate attacks against ISIS.
Several Arab states have already pledged to support the U.S. by conducting airstrikes in Iraq, although details have not yet been divulged because they are still in the discussion phase, according to the The Washington Post.
“A lot of this is still in the discussion phase, but I want to be clear that there have been offers, both to Centcom and to the Iraqis, of Arab countries taking more aggressive kinetic action against ISIL,” an anonymous senior State Department official said.
Obama has maintained that the U.S. would not deploy foot soldiers in Iraq and would mainly focus on conducting airstrikes and forming broad coalitions against ISIS.
