Marseille // International leaders committed themselves on Monday to what they declared a race against time to counter a rising threat to world peace from ISIL’s ruthless actions and ambitions.
As delegates from 29 nations met in Paris, the escalation of the international response was confirmed when French warplanes flew from the UAE on their first reconnaissance flights over Iraq in support of the United States-led campaign against militant Islamists.
Two Rafale fighter jets, equipped with high-precision cameras, took off from the Al Dhafra base during a visit by the French defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
France took no part in the 2003 invasion or Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. But the French minister told French troops based at Al Dhafra his visit came at a time of “extreme seriousness” over the ISIL threat. “We must be ready to intervene,” said Mr Le Drian, who later met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces,
“France stands ready at a time that is decisive for its security because it is also France’s security that is threatened by this ... pseudo-Islamic state.”
Twenty-nine nations were represented at the Paris summit on the eve of attempts at the United National General Assembly to establish a coordinated approach to the crisis.
A joint statement promised to use “any means necessary”, including “appropriate military assistance”, to defeat militant Islamist groups.
The French president, Francois Hollande, greeted delegates with a warning that ISIL’s activities were not confined to Iraq and Syria but amounted to a global threat requiring a global response.
He urged Arab and western allies to engage “clearly, loyally and strongly” on the side of the Iraqi authorities. “The Iraqis’ combat is also ours,” he said. “There is no time to lose.”
His words were echoed by the Iraqi president Fuad Masum, co-hosting the conference, who said the international community must act swiftly.
It was already late and further delay meant “Islamic State could occupy more territory and the threat it poses will be even bigger”, he told France’s Europe 1 radio as delegates gathered in the French capital.
The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said ISIL had adopted a blunt stance: “Either you are with us or we kill you.”
He added: “When you are facing a group like that, there is no position other than to defend yourselves and that is what the international community, with whatever differences and nuances, has decided to do.”
The daunting scale of the task is illustrated by estimates from the CIA that up to 30,000 militant fighters are now active in the large swathes of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIL.
A total of 40 countries, including the UAE among 10 Arab nations, have signed up to a coalition to help confront the militants. Some of the support was secured in a whistlestop tour by the US secretary of state John Kerry.
When the Paris conference rose, a joint statement said participating countries were “committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight ... by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance”.
Iran and Syria were not involved in the summit. Most countries are alert to the danger of being seen to side with Bashar Al Assad’s Syrian regime, which they remain committed to seeing driven from power, albeit by moderate opponents. Iran, meanwhile, claimed it declined a US invitation to cooperate early in the intervention against ISIL because, in the words of the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Washington had “unclean intentions”.
US warplanes have already carried out 160 airstrikes against ISIL positions, according to US officials at the weekend. Britain, like France, has provided support with airborne intelligence-gathering.
There is no appetite at present for sending in ground troops.
France appears readier than the UK to join the US in airstrikes, but the delay in British approval may simply reflect the prime minister David Cameron’s desire to avoid a potentially damaging distraction ahead of Thursday’s referendum on Scottish independence. Despite the beheading by militants of the British aid worker David Haines, and the grave danger to the life of another Briton, Alan Pelling, kidnapped last December, Mr Cameron faces a public weary of engagement in foreign conflicts.
Mr Pelling, a taxi driver, had volunteered to drive an ambulance laden with medical equipment, part of a 20-vehicle convoy organised by an Anglo-Arab community group based in Bolton, north-west England, to help beleaguered Syrians. He was separated by kidnappers from Muslim members of his group and taken prisoner soon after arriving in the town of Al Dana, near Aleppo.
Arab commitment to the international effort was given to Mr Kerry in Jeddah last Thursday.
The UAE and nine other Middle East countries – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar and Oman – pledged to “do their share in the comprehensive fight” against ISIL, according to a statement issued after the US envoy’s talks with the region’s foreign ministers. The communique stressed a “shared commitment to stand united against the threat posed by all terrorism, including the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant”.
Beyond a coordinated military campaign, there was a pledge of steps to halt the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria and block financial support.
Turkey, anxious about the fate of 40 hostages, including diplomats and children, kidnapped from its Mosul consulate in June, will take no part in any armed operations and provide only logistical and humanitarian assistance from the southern air base of Incirlik.
Efforts to identify what each coalition member can contribute to the offensive against ISIL coincide with yet more disturbing reports of westerners drawn to the conflict on the side of extremists.
A photograph published in British newspapers shows a woman described as a 21-year-old medical student posing with a severed head while children look on.
The woman uses Twitter under the nom de guerre of Mujahidah Bint Usama. She claims to be helping ISIL as a doctor based in Raqqa, northern Syria. In the photograph posted online, she wears a white medical coat over her full burqa. The Daily Mail says the ”gruesome image”, subsequently removed, was accompanied by symbols of “smiley” faces and love hearts and the message “dream job, a terrorist doc”.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
