IRAQ: International cooperation against IS gains momentum Iraqs newly approved government, headed by President Fouad Massoum, began openly collaborating with the international coalition forming to fight IS on Monday in Paris in hopes of a quick response. Representatives of the still-forming coalition, coming fromover 30 countries, pledged whatever means necessary to eliminate IS forces in Iraq. Despite the pledges made in Paris, support for the U.S.-led plan, announced by President Obama last week, is more ambiguous. France has agreed to join American air strikes and Britain moved closer to a similar decision following the beheading of a British humanitarian worker over the weekend; however, no Arab state has officially promised direct military aid to Iraq, and Iran was notably absent from the summit. As diplomats met in Paris, the U.S. launched its first airstrikes aimed at supporting Iraqi troops with bombings near Sinjar and southwest of Baghdad. The U.S. also announced the deployment of an additional 475 U.S. troops to Iraq, bringing the total to 1,600. Comment: The conference in Paris stressed the global alarm felt from IS threats and the multidimensional aspects of the crisis. In addition to discussion of military support, diplomats arranged another meeting to discuss methods of cutting off financial resources to IS. The group also registered support for a UN-led evaluation of human rights violations, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights suggesting that the slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Syria could constitute crimes against humanity.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:55:46 +0000
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