US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday Arab states would play a critical role in a coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, but no country in the alliance was talking about sending ground troops to participate.
Speaking to a news conference after meeting counterparts from several Arab states and Turkey in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, Kerry added that he was surprised that Russia had questioned the legality of proposed attacks on the militants in Syria in view of events in Ukraine.
In this context, the United States and several Arab allies said on Thursday they had agreed to join a coordinated military campaign against Islamic State militants who have seized parts of Iraq and Syria to try to create a jihadist hub at the heart of the Arab world.
In a joint communique after a day of talks in Saudi Arabia, the United States, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and six Gulf Arab states said participating states also agreed to stop the flow of funds and fighters to Islamic State and help rebuild communities "brutalized" by the group.
Also on Thursday, Kerry pressed Arab leaders to back President Barack Obama's new military drive against Islamic State, calling for tighter curbs on funding for militants and fewer extremist messages in Arab media.
Meeting Arab leaders in the Saudi city of Jeddah a day after Obama announced his plans to strike fighters in Iraq and Syria, Kerry also sought permission to make more use of bases in the region and fly more warplanes overhead.
In a hopeful sign of reaching across the sectarian divide that has spread war across the Middle East and fed Islamic State's militancy, Sunni Saudi Arabia said it might open an embassy in Shi'ite-ruled Iraq after decades of mutual suspicion.
The Saudis, who support other Sunni armed movements in Syria but consider Islamic State a terrorist group, have also promised to help Obama's campaign by providing training camps for moderate Syrian Sunni fighters.
But Iran, the main Shi'ite power in the Middle East and supporter of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, said it had severe reservations over the new US-led coalition, and doubted it would fight "the root causes of terrorism", which it blames squarely on Sunni Arab states like Saudi Arabia.
Obama declared on Wednesday that he would lead an alliance to root out Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, plunging the United States into two conflicts in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.
The region has been galvanized since June when Islamic State fighters, already in control of much of Syria, swept through northern Iraq, seizing cities, slaughtering prisoners, and proclaiming a "caliphate" that would rule over all Muslims.
The White House says the group is a threat to the West as well, attracting fighters from around the world who could return to carry out attacks at home.
Islamic State is a Sunni group that embraces a radical vision of a Middle East ruled along 7th century precepts. Its fighters are battling a Shi'ite-led government in Iraq and a Syrian government led by Assad, a follower of an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. But they are also fighting against more moderate Sunnis in Syria and against Kurds on both side of the frontier.
An alliance against Islamic State is bound to require cooperation from countries that consider each other bitter enemies. Washington itself supports the Shi'ite-led government in Iraq but opposes Assad in Syria; it is allied to Sunni Arab states and hostile to Iran.
The meeting in Jeddah was attended by Arab countries and non-Arab Sunni power Turkey, which have stood together against Syria's Assad.
A State Department official traveling with Kerry said the top US diplomat would the ask allies to accept a bigger US military presence in their airspace and regional bases: "We may need enhanced basing and overflights ... there's going to be a meeting soon of defense ministers to work on these details."
Kerry would also urge regional television news outlets, particularly Qatari-owned Al Jazeera and Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, to air anti-extremist messages. Governments in the region would be urged to press mosques to preach against Islamic State.
"They need to get at the clerics because the clerics can get at the mosques in the neighborhood and they have to expose ISIL for what it is," the official told reporters, using the acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, a previous name for the group, which is also sometimes referred to as ISIS.
Washington also wants more efforts to stop the flow of money to the group by tackling oil smuggling and cracking down on contributions from private donors, the official said.
REUTERS
For more details, watch Dalal Abou Haydar's full report in the video above
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