Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Syria's main western-backed opposition group has welcomed Barack Obama's decision to bomb Islamic State (Isis) insurgents inside Syria for the first time, but has also called for the removal of Bashar al-Assad's government.
The Syrian National Coalition said it was "ready and willing" with the international community to defeat militants who have seized control of parts of Syria and Iraq.
"The Syrian Coalition … stands ready and willing to partner with the international community not only to defeat Isis but also rid the Syrian people of the tyranny of the Assad regime," said Hadi al-Bahra, head of the coalition.
Obama announced on Wednesday night that he was authorising US air strikes inside Syria for the first time, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to "degrade and destroy" Isis. He also urged Congress to authorise a programme to train and arm Syrian rebels.
Bahra said mainstream Syrian rebels desperately needed the kind of support that would enable it to form a reliable and well-equipped force to fight the extremists.
"We urge the US Congress to approve the president's policy as soon as possible, and allow the training and equipping of the Free Syrian Army," said the coalition. It warned however that it was key to "realise that the Assad regime represents the root cause of the violence, brutality and sense of impunity prevailing in Syria".
A year ago, Obama was expected to announce air strikes against Assad's forces after a chemical weapons attack near Damascus. Obama backed down at the last minute, although he said a chemical attack by the regime marked a "red line" for the US.
As Obama prepared America for wider military action against Isis, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, pressed on with efforts to build a coalition against the insurgents. Arriving in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Iraq, he met counterparts from 10 key Arab countries, and Turkey, after Obama outlined his strategy in a prime-time television address.
The US wants Gulf countries to stop the flow of money to Isis by tackling oil smuggling and cracking down on contributions from private donors, a senior state department official told reporters travelling with Kerry. Kerry will also ask for help including overflight rights and using regional television news outlets, specifically Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, to air anti-extremist messages.
"They need to get at the clerics because the clerics can get at the mosques in the neighbourhood and they have to expose Isil [Isis] for what it is," the official told reporters.
Saudi Arabia's senior clergy have been attacking Isis and al-Qaida in a series of messages over the past month, denouncing the militant groups as heretical and saying it is religiously forbidden to support or join them. The White House says it will target the group's "leadership, logistical and operational capability", and attempt to "deny it sanctuary and resources to plan, prepare and execute attacks."
US officials said a critical component of the plan to train and equip Syrian insurgents was the Saudis' willingness to allow use of their territory for American training efforts. These rebels have received only modest American backing so far.
Saudi Arabia has taken part in efforts to train Syrian rebels alongside western countries, but on Jordanian territory, diplomats in the gulf have said. They said those efforts were complicated by the difficulty of vetting individual rebels to ensure they did not harbour militant sympathies.
Earlier, in Baghdad, Kerry endorsed plans by Haider al-Abadi, the new Iraqi prime minister, to improve relations with Sunnis and Kurds. He said the new government was "the heart and backbone" of the fight against Isis. François Hollande, the French president, is due in Iraq on Friday ahead of an international conference on Iraqi peace and security that Paris will host on Monday.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Yousef Al Oteiba, UAE's ambassador to the US, said his country was ready to join a coordinated international response that should to be waged not only on the battlefield but also against militant ideology.
Zhang Xinfeng, head of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's regional anti-terrorism agency, said China and its neighbours faced a threat as their own nationals return home after fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Zhang was quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency as saying that all the organisation's member states have citizens who have joined radical groups in Iraq and Syria, but gave no details. He said the agency was monitoring returning militants and is closely watching related discussions online.
*Guardian
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