Kerry has been touring the Middle East to build support for President Barack Obama's plan, announced on Wednesday, to strike both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier to defeat Islamic State Sunni fighters that control swathes of both countries.
"I'm comfortable that this will be a broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States, others," Kerry said, speaking in Ankara after meeting Turkish leaders.....................http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.615530
13/9/14
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US lobbies Turkey over fight against ISIS/ISIL (John Kerry presses Turkish leaders)
US and Iran have denied plans for any military coordination in the fight against ISIS/ISIL
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Kerry: Inappropriate for Iran to Join Talks on Fighting IS ...
ReplyDeleteU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says it "would not be appropriate" for Iran to join talks in Paris on Monday on fighting Islamic State militants because of Tehran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Secretary Kerry met Friday in Ankara with Turkish officials to discuss the Islamic State threat.
The Obama administration is looking to build a broad coalition against Islamic State militants. That does not include Iran, however, even though Iran is helping arm Kurdish forces fighting that group in Iraq with the backing of U.S. airstrikes.
In an interview with VOA, Kerry said the United States and Iran are acting independently against the Islamic State in Iraq, though there is some coordination to ensure that they stay out of each other's line of fire.................http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-says-it-is-not-appropriate-for-iran-to-join-talks-on-fighting-islamic-state/2448507.html
12/9/14
Comment by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the International Conference on Peace and Security in Iraq held in Paris on 15 September 2014...
ReplyDeleteA conference on peace and security in Iraq attended by foreign ministers from about 30 countries has opened in Paris. The participants include top officials from countries of the region, such as Iraq (President Fuad Masum and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari), and representatives of states that are cooperating with Iraq and other states of the Middle East and North Africa in combating the terrorist threat. We have drawn the attention of the participants to the fact that we have been talking for a long time about terrorist manifestations that have become markedly more frequent in the Middle East and North Africa after the Arab Spring, when the aim of overthrowing regimes was raised above the common goal of preventing the spread of the terrorist threat. We have done this not for the sake of allocating guilt, but only in order for the world community to fully consider the lessons of the past in planning future actions. It is essential to realise that there should be no double standards in the fight against terrorism. There are no "good" and "bad" terrorists. It is necessary to be consistent and not to make one’s own priorities more important than the common goal of fighting terrorism.
We have emphasised that for all the common importance of the immediate task of suppressing militants from the Islamic State who are trying to seize large territories in Iraq and Syria, it is vital that a broader perspective also be maintained. In addition to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda also remains strong. There are groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, and several extremist groups, that are united into the Islamic Front. We have suggested that the Security Council should launch preparations for a practical, deep and comprehensive analysis of the situation.
We hope our voice will be heard. At the very least, many of my colleagues, including representatives from the region, have also spoken about this. Arab countries have also said that the issue of terrorism requires a comprehensive approach, and that it is essential to consider all of its aggravating factors without exception. They include, in part, flows of money and weapons, and terrorist organisations that occupy oil fields and are calmly able to sell oil through their channels. This oil is purchased, and proceeds are funneled back into spreading terrorism further.
Special attention was paid to the efforts to prevent the expansion of the terrorist internationale. Young people are easily recruited into extremist ranks because of despair and a lack of socioeconomic prospects. Terrorist also use the Palestinian problem, which has remained unresolved for decades, as a recruiting tool. This is also a factor that terrorists are exploiting by pointing to the unfair attitude toward Arabs in the Middle East. In this way they are trying to form new teams of jihadist fighters who are against the current Arab rulers. This is a very important and urgent problem..............http://mid.ru/bdomp/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/3e9fa50cbcad3d4044257d55001e8f3d!OpenDocument
15/9/14