Arab League foreign ministers agreed on Sunday to take all necessary measures to confront ISIS and cooperate with all international, regional and national efforts to combat militant groups.
| Except for the Arab League foreign ministers who support the ISIS... |
It also endorsed in the closing statement of its meeting in Cairo a UN Security Council resolution passed last month calling on member states to act to stem the flow of logistical, military and financial support to extremists in Iraq and Syria.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Nabil Al Arabi, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, appealed to its member states to confront “militarily and politically” ISIS insurgents, an apparent call to arms as the US launched new airstrikes against the group’s fighters in Iraq.
Al Arabi himself noted that the Arab League’s 22 members have failed to help each other in the past when facing local armed groups, often because of disagreement among each other over what to do or using the pretext of non-interference to avoid accusation of meddling in each other’s affairs. Those challenges include Iraq, as well as the militia violence now tearing Libya apart and other conflicts.
However, expressing frustration at the lack of Arab action, he said some members wouldn’t refuse a Western intervention.
Al Arabi said what is needed from Arab countries is a “clear and firm decision for a comprehensive confrontation” to what he called “cancerous and terrorist” groups.
| "Clear and firm" from the Arab League mirrors "clear and firm" from Barack Obama these days, though to be fair the Arabs have had more experience in prevarication, duplicity and in leading from behind... |
“What is happening in Iraq, and the presence of an armed terrorist group that not only challenges the state authority but its very existence and that of other countries, ... is one of the examples of the challenges that are violently shaking the Arab world, and one the Arab League, regrettably, has not been able to confront,” he said.
Al Arabi said the League has the mechanism needed to provide the legal and political cover for such joint action “to help any Arab country to face the challenges to its security, safety and territorial integrity,” including military intervention if needed.
| And to keep the various current thugs in charge... |
A decades-old joint Arab defence agreement states that members states can initiate help alone or collectively to ward off an attack and restore peace and order by all means, including use of force. Elaraby said an agreement to activate that clause in the 1950 agreement is needed. |