BARCELONA, Spain – A US-led alliance of 10 countries forged a coalition Friday to thwart the rampaging armies of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as the BBC reported separately that Iran’s top leader has authorized military cooperation with long-time arch-enemy, the United States.
At a NATO summit in Wales the 10 partners – the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark – announced they had agreed to provide supplies and air support to forces fighting in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a joint statement following the meeting that the partners “agreed here today that there is no time to waste in building a broad international coalition to degrade and, ultimately, to destroy the threat posed by ISIL.”
“Specifically, we will form a multinational task force to share more information about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and from Syria into Iraq. These foreign fighters represent an acute threat to our NATO allies.”
The large number of jihadi fighters in Iraq and Syria reportedly come from Western countries, where leaders have been alarmed at these citizens returning with deadly skills they could use against their home governments.
“We also agreed to work in concert to stifle ISIL's sources of revenue, including any trade in petroleum products, and hold accountable those who violate international prohibitions on such trade,” the US statement said.
It added that, “The formation of a new and inclusive government in Iraq will be a critical step in this effort. We are hopeful that this process can be completed over the coming days. We discussed in detail how NATO allies can extend immediate support to a new government in its efforts to unify the country against ISIL.”
These would include: “military support to our Iraqi partners; stopping the flow of foreign fighters; countering ISIL's financing and funding; addressing humanitarian crises; and de-legitimizing ISIL's ideology.”
Meanwhile, the BBC’s Persian service quoted sources in Tehran as saying that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has authorized his top commander to coordinate military operations with the US, even though the two countries have had no ties since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
The report said Khamenei had sanctioned the powerful commander of Iran’s elite overseas Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, to cooperate with military forces fighting IS, including the US.
Shiite Iran – largely through Soleimani – has had great sway in Iraq over the past decade, and had opposed US involvement in the fighting in Iraq against the Sunni radicals.
But Iranian policy has slowly shifted since the IS captured of third of Iraq since June, attacked Iraqi Shiites and threatened to destroy their places of worship.
In August, the US started military strikes against IS positions in Iraq. More recently, Kurdish troops and Iraqi Shiite militias backed by Iran joined forces with the United States to liberate Amerli, a starving Turkmen town under IS siege for two months.
The fervently Sunni Islamic forces do not tolerate any other Islamic sect. The militants have persecuted, killed, tortured and enslaved religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.
Iran’s influence is critical in the country’s quibbling Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians successfully forging a new, inclusive government. Efforts at putting together a government have collapsed several times over the past several months.
The US statement promised that that NATO efforts “will also be a focus of the UN General Assembly later this month as we work to establish a truly global coalition.”
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