Obama faces UN as UK weighs joining Iraq airstrikes

Posted 2014-09-24 14:31 by admin

President Obama, in an address before the U.N. General Assembly, issued a call for international cooperation in confronting terrorism on the heels of an expanded military campaign against the Islamic State.

Obama said nations are staring into the “heart of darkness” with the violence in Iraq and Syria. He urged nations to “reject the cancer of violent extremism.”

He spoke two days after the U.S. and Arab allies launched a barrage of airstrikes in Syria against Islamic State and other targets.

The strikes continued on Wednesday, with the Pentagon reporting the U.S. conducted two more airstrikes on an Islamic State staging area in eastern Syria.

Rear Adm. John Kirby said the target was an area used by the militants to move equipment across the border into Iraq.

In the Syria operation, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates joined the U.S. earlier this week in carrying out airstrikes, while Qatar played a supporting role.

The airstrikes were not only aimed at ISIS, but also an Al Qaeda-linked terror cell called The Khorasan Group, which the Pentagon said was nearing the “execution phase” of a direct attack on the U.S. or Europe.

Meanwhile, the British parliament is expected to be recalled Friday to discuss a possible role for the U.K. in airstrikes against ISIS. The BBC reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will formally request that Britain join in the campaign. Both al-Abadi and his British counterpart, David Cameron, are in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly.

Cameron told NBC News Tuesday evening that the fight against ISIS was a battle “you cannot opt out of.

“It has oil, it has money, it has territory, it has weapons, and there’s no doubt in my mind it has already undertaken and is planning further plots in Europe and elsewhere,” Cameron said.

The BBC reported that any British involvement against ISIS would be limited to Iraq, but not Syria due to concerns raised by the opposition Labour Party. That party’s leader, Ed Miliband, told the BBC that any proposed airstrikes against ISIS in Syria would need to be backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution. Such a prospect is unlikely due to the influence of Russia, which holds a veto on the council and has roundly criticized this week’s U.S.-led airstrikes.

Obama is scheduled to meet with al-Abadi following his General Assembly speech Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday afternoon, Obama will convene an unusual meeting of the U.N. Security Council, during which members were expected to adopt a resolution that would require all countries to prevent the recruitment and transport of would-be foreign fighters preparing to join terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group.

However, Obama administration officials have acknowledged that U.N. resolutions can be notoriously difficult to enforce.

Early Wednesday, Syrian activists told the Associated Press that aircraft had conducted at least 10 airstrikes on suspected ISIS targets near the border with Iraq — though the Pentagon referred only to two.

The BBC, also citing activists, reported airstrikes around the town of Kobane, near the border with Turkey. Witnesses said that they saw two military aircraft approach the area from the direction of Turkey, but officials from that country denied that their airspace or bases were used in any attack.