President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron called for international cooperation to fight the vicious militants of the Islamic State on Thursday, an issue that came to the forefront of a NATO summit meant to deal with the Ukrainian crisis, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Both leaders agreed that isolationism should be put aside if world leaders are to form a strategy to confront the Sunni jihadist group, which continues to terrorize and murder civilians across northern Iraq and Syria.
"There are some who say that we shouldn't get involved in addressing these threats," Obama and Cameron wrote in an article published in the Times of London. "There are others who doubt if NATO can adapt to meet the challenges we face.
"It is crucial we address these beliefs head on," the leaders wrote.
Obama and Cameron were in Newark, Wales, on Thursday, meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization members to discuss the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine, the LA Times reported. Leaders of Germany, Italy, France and Ukraine were in attendance.
Russia's apparent support for the separatist insurgency served as the hot topic.
But with the jihadist threat increasing, especially in the wake of a second U.S. journalist beheaded in another gruesome video, the two leaders used the summit to seek NATO-led military action to tackle IS.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that Iraq has not submitted a request for help from the alliance, according to the LA Times. If they did, "that would be considered seriously by NATO allies," Rasmussen said.
As of Thursday afternoon it is not clear if NATO will launch a military response to the Islamic State.
NATO is considering, however, more intervention in Ukraine, though the country is not a member of the alliance.
