WASHINGTON, September 23. /ITAR-TASS/. US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he intended to meet during a UN General Assembly session this week with “friends and allies” to strengthen the international coalition against Islamic State (IS).
He said Arab support for the air strikes “makes it clear to the world this is not America’s fight alone”.
The president said last night American armed forces launched air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. Gunmen from the Khorosan Group also came under attack. He said he had “made clear that America would act as part of a broad coalition”. “That’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said at the White House.
Obama said the US was "proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with Arab partners, saying these were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar.
The president said the US would continue the fight, training and equipimg the Syrian opposition for fight against Islamic State. He said that on the whole, more than 40 countries supported the US strategy in fight against Islamists.
Over 40 nations have offered to take part in the comprehensive plan to degrade and destroy the Islamic State: "to take out terrorist targets; to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian opposition fighters who are going up against ISIL on the ground; to cut off ISIL’s financing; to counter its hateful ideology; and to stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region," Obama said.
“Over the next several days, I will be meeting Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq and with friends and allies at the United Nations to continue building support for the coalition that is confronting this profound threat to peace security. This overall effort will take time. There are challenges ahead. But we’re going to do what is necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group — for the security of our country, the region, and the entire world,” he said.