30 countries pledge to help Iraq defeat IS threat with ‘all means necessary’

Thirty countries pledged to help Iraq fight Islamic State (IS) militants “by all means necessary” on Monday. A joint statement by foreign ministers taking part in a major conference in Paris talks said support would include “appropriate military assistance”. The talks had been called to agree a strategy to combat the group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and followed a whirlwind tour of the Middle East by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The murder of British aid worker David Haines by IS militants on Saturday and the threat to another, Alan Henning, has increased the need for action.

If the intervention and support to Iraq is late, Islamic State could occupy more territory and the threat it poses will be even bigger.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum

Opening the summit, French President Francois Hollande said the threat posed by IS militants needed a global response. Iraqi President Fuad Masum, who co-hosted the conference with Mr Hollande, said the international community must pursue the jihadists “quickly”. The summit closed with a joint statement saying participants were “committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight… by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance”. Earlier, France said it had begun surveillance flights over Iraq. Britain revealed in August that its aircraft had been gathering intelligence over Iraq. Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, U.S. officials say.

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