Countries
believed to include the UAE and Saudi Arabia are prepared to fight Islamic
State in major boost to the US
theguardian.com,
Ian Black and Martin Chulov, Sunday 14 September 2014
Several
Arab states, believed to include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia,
have offered to help attack Islamic State (Isis) targets in Syria and Iraq, in
a major boost for US efforts to build a broad coalition against the Sunni
insurgent group.
 |
| John Kerry said the US had Arab allies who were prepared to join in strikes on Isis. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AP |
The offers,
reported by senior western diplomats, came in the wake of widespread
international condemnation of the murder of the British hostage, David Haines,
and a pledge by Australia to help the military effort. John Kerry, the US
secretary of state, said on Sunday he was "extremely encouraged" by
pledges made so far. Kerry is to join Iraqi, Arab and other western ministers
at a conference in Paris on Monday to agree ways to support the new Baghdad
government in the war against the jihadi group. Arab participation in military
action would help give a wider sense of legitimacy to the campaign.
US
officials declined to say which countries had offered help, but one appeared to
be the UAE, whose aircraft recently bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya
from bases in Egypt.
A senior
western source told the Guardian that Saudi Arabia felt so threatened by Isis
that it was prepared to act in a frontline role. "There is a very real
possibility that we could have the Saudi air force bombing targets inside
Syria. That is a remarkable development, and something the US would be very
pleased to see."
Another
senior official said that Saudi Arabia was now far more willing to play an open
role in the campaign against Isis than during the 1991 Gulf war and the 2003
invasion of Iraq. In both previous campaigns, Riyadh allowed its military bases
to be used by US forces, but did not commit its own troops or airmen.
This time,
Riyadh sees Isis as a direct threat to Saudi Arabia. "They actually see
themselves as the real target. "They know that they have to step up, and
they are ready to, from what we can see," the official said.
A US
official told the New York Times that the US Central Command, which oversees
military operations in the Middle East, had received offers from several Arab
states. "There have been offers both to Centcom and to the Iraqis of Arab
countries taking more aggressive kinetic action."
France has
indicated that it will back US air strikes against Isis after its president,
François Hollande, expressed support for the Iraqi prime minister, Haider
al-Abadi, and moves to undercut Sunni support for Isis. But Turkey, which
borders on both Iraq and Syria, has quietly made clear that it would not take
part or allow its bases to be used for combat operations – a disappointment
coming from Nato's only Muslim member.
Syrian ministers have repeated calls for Damascus to join the coalition, though the US and Britain – backed by their Gulf allies – have insisted president Bashar al-Assad cannot take part because he has "lost all legitimacy" in the course of a war that has cost 200,000 lives.
 |
| Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Photograph: AP |
Syrian ministers have repeated calls for Damascus to join the coalition, though the US and Britain – backed by their Gulf allies – have insisted president Bashar al-Assad cannot take part because he has "lost all legitimacy" in the course of a war that has cost 200,000 lives.
Kerry said
the US would not coordinate any attacks with Syria, but added in an interview
on CBS's Face the Nation: "We will certainly want to deconflict and make
certain that they're (Syria) not about to do something that they might regret
even more seriously."
Britain
will be represented at the Paris talks by Philip Hammond, the foreign
secretary, with David Cameron facing conflicting pressures over whether to
participate in air strikes or restrict the country to delivering humanitarian
aid, surveillance, and arming and training Kurdish and Iraqi forces. Cameron
made clear on Sunday that he supports US strikes and "whatever steps are
necessary" while keeping options open. The Haines murder may change the
dynamic of the arguments.
Details of
how the anti-Isis campaign will be waged are still sketchy, though the US
reportedly discussed basing and overflight rights at talks in Jeddah last week
with the Saudis and the other Gulf states as well as Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and
Egypt. All expressed support for a "coordinated military campaign".
"I can
tell you right here and now that we have countries in this region, countries
outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are
prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it
requires," Kerry said.
Officials
familiar with high level discussions between Riyadh and Washington say both
sides are determined to avoid the perception in the Sunni world that the
upcoming campaign will benefit Iran and its Shia and Alawite proxies. "The
Saudis are the power base of the Sunni world and it is time for them to provide
an alternative to Isis," said a regional official. "They know what is
expected of them and this time you will see them acting directly."
Denis
McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said that while air strikes would
weaken Isis, "it's going to be Iraqi and other boots on the ground"
that would the key to defeating the terrorists.
"To
destroy Isil[Isis] we need to have a force, an anvil against which they will be
pushed," McDonough said on CNN's State of the Union.
"It
will be a coalition that includes not only our friends in Europe and Asia but
also our partners in the region, Muslim states, Sunni states. We're going to
use our unique capabilities, air power, ISR [intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance] and our training ability to make sure Iraqi forces on one side
and Syrian opposition forces on the other side of the border can take the fight
to Isil."
Obama's
condemnation of Haines's murder was echoed in other capitals, with the German
foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, calling the killing "an
abhorrent act of barbaric violence beyond all limits of human
civilisation."
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