Anti-ISIL coalition drags feet as US struggles to secure Sunni partners
Diplomats from the United States, European Union, and the Arab League said Monday they were committed to taking military action against the Islamic State (ISIL) insurgency in Iraq, but their silence on what to do about ISIL in the group’s home base of Syria suggested the U.S.-led “united front” was still hitting snags. Compounding that […]Michael Pizzi writes for Al Jazeera:
Diplomats from the United States, European Union, and the Arab League said Monday they were committed to taking military action against the Islamic State (ISIL) insurgency in Iraq, but their silence on what to do about ISIL in the group’s home base of Syria suggested the U.S.-led “united front” was still hitting snags.
Compounding that dilemma is the absence of firm commitments from crucial Sunni allies in the region about who will take an active role in military strikes, something President Barack Obama had said would underpin any U.S. military action against the extremist-led insurgency. At a meeting in Paris on Monday, delegates from over 30 countries said in a vaguely worded communiqué they were “committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight against [ISIL] by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance.”
