SAUDI ARABIA-IRAQ CRISIS/KERRY MEETINGS Kerry presses Arabs to back campaign against Islamic State
Record ID:
189514
SAUDI ARABIA-IRAQ CRISIS/KERRY MEETINGS Kerry presses Arabs to back campaign against Islamic State
- Title: SAUDI ARABIA-IRAQ CRISIS/KERRY MEETINGS Kerry presses Arabs to back campaign against Islamic State
- Date: 11th September 2014
- Summary: JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (SEPTEMBER 11, 2014) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL AND NEW IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER IBRAHIM AL JAFAARI MEETING AL JAFAARI / AUDIO OF AL FAISAL SAYING THEY ARE PREPARING TO RE-OPEN THE EMBASSY AL FAISAL TALKING / AUDIO OF AL FAISAL SAYING (Arabic) ALL THAT IS LEFT IS TO CLEAN AND PREPARE FOR WORK AL FAISAL AND AL JAFAARI MEETING ARAB AND GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL (GCC) COUNTRIES FOREIGN MINISTERS AND DELEGATIONS ENTERING MEETING HALL MEDIA WAITING U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY ARRIVING FOREIGN MINISTER OF KUWAIT, SHEIKH SABAH AL-KHALID AL-SABAH, SEATED KERRY MEETING WITH ARAB AND GCC FOREIGN MINISTERS KERRY AT MEETING KERRY SEATED NEXT TO BAHRAIN FOREIGN MINISTER KHALED AL-KHALIFA EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAMEH SHUKRI SHUKRI SEATED NEXT TO QATAR FOREIGN MINISTER KHALED AL-ATTIYA SHUKRI SEATED NEXT TO AL JAFAARI MEETING IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 26th September 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Saudi Arabia
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAE88GD2024Y01X8UHWXVU0IR6F
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Arab leaders on Thursday (September 11) to support President Barack Obama's plans for a new military campaign against Islamic State militants including help with greater overflight rights for U.S. warplanes.
U.S. officials have cast the campaign against Islamic State as a global fight against Islamist radicals and the threat they pose beyond Syria and Iraq, particularly through foreign fighters drawn from nearly all points of the planet.
While Washington has not identified specific threats within the United States, U.S. officials say they believe its fighters could return to home countries and carry out attacks. The beheading of two captive American journalists in the past month has also enraged many Americans who want Obama to retaliate.
In a strong measure of support, Saudi Arabia has agreed to host training camps for moderate Syrian rebels who are part of Obama's broad strategy to combat the militants, who have taken over a third of both Syria and Iraq, U.S. officials said.
The agreement, outlined by Obama's aides on the night of his speech laying out his expanded campaign against the Islamist group, appeared to reflect the depth of Saudi concern about Islamic State's threat to the region.
Detailing what Kerry would seek from regional partners at a meeting of Arab powers and Turkey in Jeddah, a senior State Department official said: "We may need enhanced basing and overflights ... there's going to be a meeting soon of defense ministers to work on these details."
Wider overflight permission from regional states would increase the capacity of U.S. aircraft to attack anti-aircraft weaponry operated by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and if deemed necessary impose a no-fly zone.
Saudi Arabia, the richest Sunni Arab country, this year outlawed Islamic State as an extremist organization, but it is worried that the focus on the group will distract from what it sees as a bigger regional threat stemming from Shi'ite Iran.
The conservative Islamic kingdom has long pressed the United States to take a bigger role in aiding moderate Syrian rebels, whom it sees as the best hope of tackling both Islamic State and the regional ambitions of Tehran, Riyadh's regional rival.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None