SAUDI ARABIA-KERRY-FAISAL PRESSER Arab nations "critical" in campaign against Islamic State - Kerry
Record ID:
189512
SAUDI ARABIA-KERRY-FAISAL PRESSER Arab nations "critical" in campaign against Islamic State - Kerry
- Title: SAUDI ARABIA-KERRY-FAISAL PRESSER Arab nations "critical" in campaign against Islamic State - Kerry
- Date: 11th September 2014
- Summary: JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (SEPTEMBER 11, 2014) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL AND U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY GETTING GROUP PICTURE TAKEN WITH VARIOUS ARAB AND GULF FOREIGN MINISTERS KERRY AND FAISAL ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM CAMERAMEN NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER, PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL, SAYING: "The King has for a very long time warned about this danger that is spreading ferociously in the region." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "Arab nations play a critical role in that coalition, the leading role really across all lines of effort: military support, humanitarian aid, our work to stop the flow of illegal funds, and foreign fighters which ISIL requires in order to survive, and certainly the effort to repudiate once and for the dangerous, the offensive, the insulting distortion of Islam that ISIL propaganda attempts to spread throughout the region and the world." REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, SAYING: "If it weren't so serious what is happening in Ukraine, one might almost laugh at the idea of Russia raising the issue of international law or of any question at the U.N. And I am really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine." FAISAL AND KERRY LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 26th September 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Saudi Arabia
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6MJ2S2JKGADW6VUO7W6UI8UV8
- Story Text: The United States signed up Arab allies on Thursday (September 11) to a "coordinated military campaign" against Islamic State fighters, a major step in building regional support for President Barack Obama's plan to strike both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier.
After talks in Saudi Arabia's summer capital Jeddah, Secretary of State John Kerry won backing from 10 Arab countries - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and six Gulf states including rich rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar - for a coalition to fight the Sunni militants that have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.
"Arab nations play a critical role in that coalition, the leading role really across all lines of effort: military support, humanitarian aid, our work to stop the flow of illegal funds, and foreign fighters which ISIL requires in order to survive, and certainly the effort to repudiate once and for the dangerous, the offensive, the insulting distortion of Islam that ISIL propaganda attempts to spread throughout the region and the world," Kerry told a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Non-Arab Sunni power Turkey also attended the Jeddah talks but two other major regional players - Shi'ite Iran and Syria itself - were excluded, a sign of the difficulty of building a coalition across the Middle East's sectarian battle lines.
The Arab states agreed in a communiqué to do more to stop the flow of funds and fighters to Islamic State and help rebuild communities "brutalised" by the group.
Kerry met the Arab leaders to drum up support a day after Obama announced his plans to strike fighters in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. officials said Kerry also sought permission to make more use of bases in the region and fly more warplanes overhead, issues that were not mentioned in the communiqué. Kerry said none of the countries in the coalition would send ground troops.
In a hopeful sign of outreach across the sectarian divide that has spread war across the Middle East and fed Islamic State's militancy, Sunni Saudi Arabia said it might open an embassy in Shi'ite-ruled Iraq after decades of suspicion.
The Saudis, who support other Sunni armed movements in Syria but consider Islamic State a terrorist group, have also promised to help Obama's campaign by providing training camps for moderate Syrian Sunni fighters.
The prospect of U.S. armed action in Syria also drew concern from Russia, which has backed President Bashar al-Assad. In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said air strikes in Syria would require a U.N. Security Council mandate or be considered an act of aggression.
Kerry said he was surprised by such a statement in view of events in Ukraine - a separate international crisis where Washington says Moscow has sent troops, which Russia denies.
"If it weren't so serious what is happening in Ukraine, one might almost laugh at the idea of Russia raising the issue of international law or of any question at the U.N. And I am really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine," said Kerry.
The United States plans to sanction Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, and to further limit other Russian banks' access to U.S. capital to punish Moscow for intervening in Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The sanctions are the latest by the United States and the European Union following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March and what the West sees as an effort since to further destabilize Ukraine by backing pro-Russian separatists with troops and arms.
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