Representatives of some 30 countries meeting in Paris on Monday declared their willingness to use “any means necessary” to deal with the threat of Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq at the end of an international conference convened by French President Francois Hollande and Iraqi President Fuad Massum. Attending the conference were US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond. Arab states present at the conference included Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The meeting was held as France began reconnaissance missions across Iraq from its base in the UAE, and the US continued its bombing campaign of IS targets in Iraq, In a speech opening the conference, Hollande dismissed criticisms of the current US military intervention in Iraq, saying, “In its Resolution 2170, the UN Security Council declared the Dae'ch [the Arabic for IS] to be a huge danger to the world's security. The Iraqis' fight against the terrorists is also our fight. We must commit ourselves together alongside the Iraqi authorities clearly, steadfastly and strongly. And there's no time to lose.” Hollande paid a one-day visit to Baghdad last Friday in preparation for this week's Paris conference, aimed at providing “the new Iraqi government the political support necessary to combat a major threat, the Dae'ch, which poses a major risk to Iraq, the Middle East and the world.” Hollande added that since the IS is a “a global threat,” it requires “a global response.” However, while the final statement issued at the end of the conference asserted the participants' willingness to support Iraq “ in its fight against the Dae'ch by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance, in line with the needs expressed by the Iraqi authorities [and] in accordance with international law,” no details were given of the kind of support that each country plans to give. At present, air strikes against IS forces in Iraq are being carried out by the US alone, with debate continuing in Britain and France on whether or not to join the military campaign. There was also no mention of issues that were widely discussed in the French and international press before the conference began, including the question of whether the military campaign against IS could be extended across the Syrian border, which would require either an appropriate UN Security Council Resolution, likely to be vetoed by Russia, or cooperation between the US and the Syrian government, and the possible participation of Iran. In the event, there was no mention of Syria in the final statement, despite the fact that IS has effectively removed the border between the two countries and now controls some 25 per cent of Syrian territory. While the US has raised the possibility of attacking IS forces across the border in Syria, this has been ruled out by France, at least for the time being. In his speech opening Monday's conference, Hollande said that the international community should “support those who can negotiate and make the compromises necessary in order to protect Syria's future,” adding that the “democratic opposition forces must be supported by every possible means.” There was no mention of possible negotiation with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, whose regime is directly threatened by IS forces, or of seeking possible UN support for military strikes in Syria. Reports in the French press before the conference had also spoken of disagreement between France and the United States over the possible involvement of Iran. According to a report in the French newspaper Le Monde on Monday, “Any solution to the conflict in Iraq and Syria will have to take place with the involvement of Iran, the main ally of the regimes in both Baghdad and Damascus.” France had been in favour of inviting Iran to participate at Monday's conference, the newspaper said, but this had been vetoed by the United States and Arab states headed by Saudi Arabia. This was the case even though “Iran and the United States are objective allies in the fight against IS, with Washington bombarding the group's positions in Iraq and Iran providing support to the Iraqi army and the Shiite militias fighting IS in Iraq.” Speaking after the conference, Kerry said that there could be no coordination with Iran in the fight against IS. In comments widely reported in the French press on Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying that Iran would not participate in an “illegal coalition” whose real intention was to overthrow the Syrian regime. “The Americans are lying when they say that they refused to allow Iran to join the alliance, since we have declared our opposition to it from the very beginning,” Khamenei was quoted as saying. While the conference did not answer the question of who would be doing what in the international coalition being set up to fight IS in Iraq, with the US continuing to carry out military strikes against IS positions alone, it was an opportunity for those present to underline their support for the Iraqi government and their opposition to IS. According to Iraqi President Fuad Massum, speaking at the conference, the IS takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria is a direct threat to European countries because of the engagement of “terrorist volunteers from European countries” who might then be tempted to export the violence back to their countries of origin. “These criminals [IS militants] are experts at brainwashing young people. They control and prepare them for terrorist actions and use modern technology to spread propaganda and terror through the Internet and social networks,” Massum said. “We are asking for airborne operations to be continued against terrorist sites … We must pursue [the terrorists] wherever they are. We must cut off their financing. We must bring them to justice and stop fighters in neighbouring countries from joining them.” Both France and the UK are currently introducing legislation intended to prevent their nationals from travelling to Iraq or Syria in order to join armed groups there, fearing the possible spread of radicalisation at home. For commentators in the French press, the conference was useful for reiterating the international community's support for the Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi. It was also seen as an important venue for restating the need for a political and humanitarian solution to the crisis in Iraq and Syria, and to remind the United States of its responsibility to consult the international community when carrying out military actions in Iraq. Under former French president Jacques Chirac, France strongly opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, even threatening to veto US attempts to gain a UN Security Council Resolution that would have given explicit legitimacy to the conflict. Now that a second US-led military intervention in the country seems to be beginning, “France wants to be present and to retain the right to steer events,” Le Monde commented on Monday. “It is not possible to fight against IS in Iraq just by bombing the country,” a diplomatic source was quoted as saying. There must also be “the establishment of principles and the gathering of engagements.”
