Several Arab countries offer to join air campaign on Islamic State, say U.S. officials
By Jason Szep
1 hour ago
Following
President Barack Obama's announcement of a plan to take down Islamic
militants, Syria offered to partner with the U.S, but with some
restrictions.
By Jason Szep
PARIS
(Reuters) - Several Arab countries have offered to join the United
States in air strikes against Islamic State targets, U.S. officials said
on Sunday, indicating a possible widening of the air campaign against
militants who have seized parts of Iraq and Syria.
The
officials declined to identify which countries had made the offers but
said they were under consideration as the United States begins to
identify roles for each country in its emerging coalition against
jihadists who have declared a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.
The
addition of Arab fighter jets could strengthen the credibility of the
American-led campaign in a region skeptical of how far Washington will
commit to a conflict in which nearly every country has a stake, set
against the backdrop of Islam's 1,300-year-old rift between Sunnis and
Shi'ites.
“I don’t want to
leave you with the impression that these Arab members haven’t offered to
do air strikes because several of them have,” a senior U.S. State
Department official told reporters in Paris.
The
official said the offers were not limited to air strikes on Iraq. "Some
have indicated for quite a while a willingness to do them elsewhere,"
the official said. "We have to sort through all of that because you
can’t just go and bomb something."
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