JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Key Arab allies promised Thursday to “do their share” to fight Islamic State militants, but NATO member Turkey refused to join in, signaling the struggle the U.S. faces in trying to get front-line nations to put aside their regional animosities and work together to defeat a common enemy.
The Arab states’ endorsement of a broad strategy to stop the flow of fighters and funding to the insurgents, and possibly to join military action, came as the CIA doubled its assessment of how many fighters the extremist group can muster.
Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress lined up Thursday behind President Barack Obama’s call to combat the militants, a day after he laid out a long-term campaign that would include expanding airstrikes against the fighters in Iraq, launching strikes against them in Syria for the first time and bolstering the Iraqi military and moderate Syrian rebels to allow them to reclaim territory from the militants.
The 10 Mideast allies announced their backing for a strategy to “destroy” the group “wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria,” following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah.
Kerry’s visit, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, was aimed at pinning down how much support regional allies are willing to give to the U.S. plan to beat back the Islamic State group, which has seized large chunks of Iraq and Syria. Nearly 40 nations have agreed to contribute to what Kerry said would be a worldwide fight to defeat the militants.
In remarks to reporters after the meeting, Kerry noted the “particularly poignant day” for the discussions.
“The devastating consequences of extremist hate remain fresh in the minds of all Americans, and to so many of our friends and allies around the world,” Kerry said of the terror attacks on the U.S. 13 years ago. “Those consequences are felt every day here in the Middle East.”
Greater regional support is seen as critical to combatting the spread of the Islamic State group, which has proved so ruthless that even al-Qaida severed ties with it earlier this year. New intelligence assessments estimate the extremists can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, up from a previous figure of 10,000, the CIA said Thursday.
CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said the new total reflects stronger recruitment by the extremists since June, following battlefield successes and the group’s declaration of an Islamic state, or caliphate, on territory under its control.
Thursday’s meeting in Jiddah ended with Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon pledging to stand against terrorism. They promised steps including stopping fighters and funding, repudiating the Islamic State group’s ideology, providing humanitarian aid and “as appropriate, joining in the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign.”
They also agreed to boost support for the new Iraqi government as it tries to unite its citizens in the fight against the militants. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said coalition members agreed to share responsibilities for fighting the Islamic State group, as well as to “be serious and continuous in our action to eliminate and wipe out all these terrorist organizations.”
Turkey attended the meeting but did not sign the final communique.
The NATO ally had been asked to secure its borders to prevent oil smuggling out of Iraq and Syria and keep foreign fighters from heading in. But Ankara has been reluctant to take a prominent role in the coalition, in part out of concern for the 49 Turkish citizens who were kidnapped from the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul when it was overrun by Islamic State fighters in June.
U.S. officials played down Turkey’s absence from the communique, noting that the Turkish government is still extremely concerned about the fate of its diplomats. A senior State Department official predicted the U.S. will continue to work with Turkey to repel the insurgent threat, and said Ankara is in a difficult position as it tries to protect the hostages. The official was not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.