The unity of Arab states is crucial to confront and defeat the threat posed by the Islamic State militants, the secretary-general of the Arab League told member foreign ministers Sunday, Los Angeles Times reported.
The comments come after the Obama administration made an announcement of planning to put together a coalition to take immediate action against the radical Sunni Muslim militia, which has seized large chunks of territory in Syria and Iraq and recently executed American journalists James Foley and Scott Sctoloff.
Since the ISIS garnered world attention by getting ahead of Al-Qaeda in its radicalism, degree of on-the-ground military effectiveness and extent of territory captured, both the Arab world and Western nations have been attempting to grope for a means of responding to the terrorist group, Nabil Arabi said.
Noting that a "comprehensive confrontation" was needed to cope militarily with the threat posed by the Islamic State, Arabi's statements seemed to pave the way for an Arab agreement to a Western intervention.
"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 world," he told a gathering at the Egyptian capital, according to the Associated Press.
A joint Arab call for action would greatly ease Western action against the Islamic state, Arabi told the ministers, citing previous accords under which member states would defend one another, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, another Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said that what is needed from Arab countries is a "clear and firm decision for a comprehensive confrontation" with "cancerous and terrorist" groups. The Arab League includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Obama will meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday to outline his plan to the war-weary American public Wednesday, the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"I just want the American people to understand the nature of the threat and how we're going to deal with it and to have confidence that we'll be able to deal with it," Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
