CAIRO: Arab League foreign ministers agreed on Sunday to take all necessary measures to confront Islamic State and cooperate with international, regional and national efforts to combat militants who have overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The Arab League also endorsed in the closing statement of its meeting in Cairo a UN Security Council resolution passed last month calling on member states to “act to suppress the flow of foreign fighters, financing and other support to extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.”
Baghdad had earlier submitted a draft resolution endorsing its own efforts to confront militants who have seized large areas for a cross-border caliphate and to condemn Islamic State’s actions as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The final text did not directly endorse either the Iraqi or US campaign against Islamic State, but diplomatic sources said the wording clearly offered Arab cooperation to US and Iraqi efforts and could be read as a tacit agreement to back Washington’s campaign against the group.

At the opening session, several foreign ministers spoke of the gravity of the challenge posed by Islamic State in Iraq as well as the violence that has engulfed Libya and other regions.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told the session that the rise of the group in Iraq challenged not merely the authority of the state but “its very existence and the existence of other states” and called for a decisive resolution to confront terrorism militarily, politically, economically and culturally.

He appealed to member states to confront “militarily and politically” Islamic State insurgents, an apparent call to arms.

He suggested that military action could take place under the umbrella of an Arab League joint defense pact.

It was not clear whether the Arab commitment to take all necessary action against the IS and other militant groups would include direct military involvement in Iraq or Syria.

Elaraby himself noted that the Arab League’s member states have failed to help each other in the past when facing local armed groups, often because of disagreements and fear of being accused of meddling in one another’s affairs. Those challenges include Iraq as well as the militia violence now tearing Libya apart and other conflicts.

SOURCE: ARABNEWS.COM