Military intervention against Islamic State militants could be justified on the grounds of self-defense or preventing a campaign "pretty close to
genocide", NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on
Monday.
Rasmussen said the threat posed by Islamic State "requires a
military response to degrade and defeat this terrorist organization" but he said NATO as an organization would not be
undertaking military strikes against the group.
"We are not considering ... a leading NATO role in this
operation. A number of NATO allies are forming a coalition that
also includes countries from the region," he told the Carnegie
Europe thinktank where he gave his last speech in Brussels
before stepping down at the end of this month.
The United States, NATO's dominant member, is already
carrying out air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.
Russia said last week that air strikes against Islamist
militants in
Syria without a U.N. Security Council mandate would
be an act of aggression, raising the possibility of a new
confrontation with the West in coming weeks.
Rasmussen said that, speaking as a "layman", he felt there
was a basis in fundamental principles of the United Nations'
charter to take military action against Islamic State.
"ISIS (Islamic State) commits horrific atrocities and I
would say witnessing manslaughter, their attacks against
religious and ethnic minorities, in my opinion it is pretty
close to genocide. In my opinion that gives such a military
operation legitimacy within the principles of the U.N. Charter,"
he said.
"I also consider this a kind of self-defense, which is also
permitted within the U.N. charter," he said.
NATO agreed at its summit in Wales earlier this month to
play a coordinating role in organizing security assistance for
Iraq in its fight against Islamic State militants, including
coordinating the airlift of supplies.
Rasmussen said the world should learn from previous military
operations, such as Libya, that it was important to work after a
military operation to help such countries improve their
security and good governance.
Since NATO-led air strikes in 2011 helped dislodge Muammar
Gaddafi after 42 years of one-man rule, Libya has been unable to
impose authority over brigades of former rebels who refuse to
disarm and have carved out regional fiefdoms.
"That is one of the important lessons to be learned, that
military operations should go hand in hand with civilian efforts
to ... build a new nation after such a military operation,"
Rasmussen said.
REUTERS