The permanent members of the Arab league on Sunday (June 15) held an emergency meeting to discuss the
Iraq crisis and its threat to Arab and regional security.
A statement by the Arab League after the meeting reiterated the importance of reconciliation between all political factions in Iraq to resolve the situation and fight the insurgency by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
"What is happening in Iraq now is not only a threat to Arab security but to regional security as a whole. The regional safety is threatened. Our minds are set but there has to be agreement and careful studying of all aspects to the problem when it comes to standing by Iraq at this current phase," said Vice President of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Helli.
The meeting comes at a time when ISIL has become a dominant player in Iraq and Syria, where it has seized a string of cities over the past year, often fighting other Sunni groups.
Mohamed Saad Al-Elmy, who chaired Sunday's session, said that negotiations between Arab League members are currently underway to reach solutions regarding the crisis.
"We are at the beginning of this crisis but the negotiations are continuing at higher levels to reach the best solutions that should to lead to stopping terrorist activities on the ground in Iraq," Al-Elmy said.
The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces.
As the rapid advance south by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) towards Baghdad appeared to slow over the weekend, fierce fighting erupted in the town of Tal Afar 60 km (40 miles) west of Mosul near the Syrian border, security sources and a local official said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday (June 13) he was reviewing military options, short of sending troops, to combat the insurgency, and Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq.
The United States ordered an aircraft carrier moved into the Gulf on Saturday, readying it in case Washington decides to pursue a military option after insurgents overran areas in the north and advanced on Baghdad.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said his country was standing by to help if asked.
Thousands of Iraqis responded to a call by the country's most influential Shi'ite cleric to take up arms and defend the country against the insurgency.
Having encountered little resistance in majority Sunni areas, the militants have now come up against the army, which clawed back some towns and territory around Samarra on Saturday with the help of Shi'ite militia.
REUTERS