U.S. Urging Allies to Join Strikes on Syria
Administration Does Not Want to Act Unilaterally
By Julian E. Barnes, Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee
Updated Sept. 19, 2014 9:09 p.m. ET
The Islamic State is threatening to seize a strategically-located town on the Syrian border. What will it take for the U.S. to contain the threat? Retired U.S. Army Maj. Mike Lyons joins the News Hub. Photo: Getty.
The U.S. is seeking commitments from allies to join in airstrikes on Syria before it launches attacks against Islamic State targets, American officials said, reflecting concerns about acting unilaterally.
The administration hopes that one or two allies will join in the initial wave of airstrikes, which could be launched as early as next week, these officials said.
President Barack Obama and other top U.S. officials are attending the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York this month, in part, to try and woo more partners to the U.S.-led coalition.
Secretary of State John Kerry addressed a special session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday and stressed the importance of support from European and Arab states for the campaign against the extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
"I'm absolutely confident that through a global campaign that is comprehensive and committed, we can support the promise of the new government in Iraq and we can defeat the ISIL threat wherever it exists," Mr. Kerry said.
The Pentagon is preparing war plans in Syria that would include an intensive initial wave of strikes against Islamic State targets
.
A French pilot flies over Iraq on Friday as his country joins U.S.-led airstrikes on Islamic State, while a second plane nearby refuels in the air. ECPAD/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
U.S. officials said adding allies would help spread the burden of the strikes. But far more important is the symbolism a joint strike would have, showing that the U.S. isn't acting unilaterally but has support from the international community.
"A key component of this would be allied participation," said a U.S. official.
One U.S. official said some allies have offered to participate in the strikes only if their role isn't publicly acknowledged. But such covert participation wouldn't help the U.S. convince skeptics it wasn't acting unilaterally, the official said.
France has joined the U.S. in striking targets in Iraq, but French President François Hollande has publicly said he would not extend those strikes to Syria. French officials have said they are worried striking Islamic State in Syria could bolster the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The narrow focus of the U.S. government on Islamic State militants has hampered diplomatic efforts at building up a coalition, particularly among Arab countries. Some Arab diplomats have said the U.S. should focus on attacking the Assad regime as well as extremist groups.
Other nations in the region have privately raised questions about the depth of the American commitment to push back Islamic State, worried that the U.S. will pull out too quickly, and not press long enough to permanently weaken the militants.
Foreign ministers meeting with Mr. Kerry Friday appeared split on whether to push the war on Islamic State into Syria.
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Iraq's new foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said a campaign against the terrorist organization couldn't succeed without pursuing the fighters in their Syrian safe haven.
"We warned that the situation in Syria would eventually affect Iraq and this threat must be removed…including from neighboring countries," Mr. Jaafari said.
Russia, however, one of Syria's closest allies, said that no military operations against Islamic State militants should be conducted without a Security Council resolution. Russia also wants such strikes to be conducted in close consultation with the Syrian regime.
"We are concerned about bombing Syria without the cooperation of Damascus," Russia's ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin said. "It can have destructive practical consequences on the humanitarian situation in Syria."
However, Saudi Arabia's ambassador, Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, said that to stem the threat from Islamic State, the coalition would need to "put a stop to the prime source of all this violence: the Syrian regime. ISIL and the Syrian regime are but different sides of the same coin."
He said "concerted action" was needed to support the legal Syrian opposition to allow them to fight ISIL as well as the Syrian regime.
Syrian U.N Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari lambasted Saudi Arabia for what he claimed was their support for Islamic State and other terrorist groups and said the conflict in Iraq couldn't be separated from the Syrian crisis.
"The war in Syria and Iraq against terrorism is a single war against the same enemy. The victims of both countries are the victims of one terrorism—a heinous one," he said.
While U.S. officials have ruled out a "shock and awe"-style air campaign in Syria, officials said the Pentagon envisaged an intense initial wave of multiple strikes in multiple locations
After that first salvo, the Syria campaign will then likely shift into a less intensive phase similar to the air campaign in Iraq over the last two months, depending on how Islamic State responds and how the initial strikes go, officials said.
One of Mr. Obama's top priorities, as he mingles with world leaders at the United Nations over three days this coming week, is securing stronger Arab support for his strategy, according to senior U.S. officials.
None of Washington's Middle Eastern allies have publicly committed to participation in military operations against Islamic State, and administration officials have tried to deflect questions about how far Arab leaders may be willing to go to support the effort.
Mr. Obama will make the case for building a strong international coalition during a speech Wednesday morning to the U.N. General Assembly and in meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
While U.S. officials expect additional commitments from other nations, it is unclear what types of assistance Mr. Obama might gain from Sunni-led governments against the Sunni radicals of Islamic State.
Mr. Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, on Friday played down any potential divisions within the coalition or confusion about who would be leading the effort.
"This will be a unified coalition," Ms. Rice told reporters. "It will be cohesive. And it will be under one single command authority."
Ms. Rice reiterated the U.S. position on a ground war, saying: "Our strategy does not involve U.S. troops on the ground in a combat role in either Iraq or Syria."
She said the program to arm and train Syrian rebels will be based outside of Syria.
Ms. Rice also said now that Congress has passed Mr. Obama's proposal for arming and training Syrian rebels, the administration plans to move quickly to implement the program but it will take months to set up training facilities and vet members of the opposition.
"This will be a process that will take months," Ms. Rice said. "We'll move as fast as we reasonably can."
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president has been "very pleased" with discussions between the U.S. officials and Sunni-led governments. He pointed to Saudi Arabia's agreement to host a facility for training the Syrian rebels and indicated possible additional measures.
—Joe Lauria, Laurence Norman and Adam Entous contributed to this article.
Write to Julian E. Barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com, Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com and Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com
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