paris: France’s foreign minister yesterday pressed “all countries in the region” as well as Iran to join Western nations in the fight against Islamic State fighters rampaging through Iraq and Syria.
“We would like all the countries of the region to join in this action (that includes the Arab countries and Iran), but we would also like the P5 to join in with this action,” Laurent Fabius told a parliamentary committee, referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
“We believe that this terrorist group is of a different nature and level of danger than others. As surreal as it may seem, this group considers Al Qaeda too soft.”
He warned that IS’s ambitions spread far beyond the borders of Iraq and Syria. “Today it’s Iraq. But the Caliphate is the whole of the region. And beyond that region, there’s obviously Europe.”
We are all “people to be destroyed and slaughtered because the goal and raison d’etre of this gang is to kill anyone who does not submit to them,” added the minister.
Meanwhile, US aircraft pounded Islamic State militants in 14 air strikes near Iraq’s largest dam in the past 24 hours, officials said yesterday, amid IS threats to kill a second American journalist.
Since Tuesday, US drones and fighter jets destroyed or damaged six IS Humvees, three sites for improvised explosive devices, one mortar tube and two armed trucks, US Central Command said.
The latest air raids brought to 84 the number conducted since August 8. Of those, 51 were in support of Iraqi forces near Mosul dam, now under the control of Iraqi and Kurdish security forces.
The command said the latest strikes served to “further expand” Iraqi and Kurdish control of the area.
“These strikes were conducted under authority to support Iraqi security forces and Kurdish defense force operations, as well as to protect critical infrastructure, US personnel and facilities, and support humanitarian efforts,” it added.
AFP
