Denmark, Belgium join anti-Islamic State coalition

Haaretz

9:07 P.M. A Western-backed opposition force of around 12,000 to 15,000 would be required to retake areas of eastern Syria now controlled by Islamic State, the top U.S military officer said on Friday. "Five thousand has never been the end state ... Twelve to 15,000 is what we believe they would need to recapture lost territory in eastern Syria," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Last week, Congress gave temporary approval to a plan for the United States to train members of Syria's moderate opposition to combat the Islamic State, which is seeking to expand its hardline rule from a base in eastern Syria. The initial number of opposition fighters to be trained by the United States is expected to be around 5,000. (Reuters)

9:05 P.M. Iraq's president has applauded the international coalition supporting his country against Islamic extremists who have taken large parts of northern and western Iraq.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum, in an address to world leaders at the United Nations, also called for greater regional cooperation against the Islamic State group which "thrives on crises and disputes." He said the Islamic State group transcends states and continents, and destroying it requires a united international front. (AP)

8:34 P.M. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that a "no-fly zone" should be created in Syria to protect part of it from attacks by Syria's air force.

In his comments to reporters on his return from the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Erdogan did not specify where such a zone should be located. "A no-fly zone must be declared and this no fly-zone must be secured," Erdogan said, adding that he had discussed the issue with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

In addition, Erdogan said a "secure area" should be created on the Syrian side of the Turkish border, where tens of thousands of Syrians have fled the fighting as refugees. Turkey could probably protect such an area with its artillery. (AP)

7:39 P.M. British lawmakers voted 524-43 in favor of the U.K.'s involvement in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State. British Prime Minister David Cameron made a passionate plea to the U.K. House of Commons that spelled out the consequences of inaction in drastic terms. "This is about psychopathic terrorists that are trying to kill us and we do have to realize that, whether we like it or not, they have already declared war on us," he said. "There isn't a 'walk on by' option. There isn't an option of just hoping this will go away."

Cameron told a tense House of Commons in a more than six-hour-long debate that the hallmarks of the campaign would be "patience and persistence, not shock and awe" — a direct reference to the phrase associated with the invasion of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. (AP)

7:02 P.M. Belgium has joined the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq and will send six F-16 fighter planes to take part in the operation. Belgian participation for one month was authorized by the country's Chamber of Representatives Friday afternoon after more than three hours of debate. Further involvement will be subject to parliamentary evaluation and review.

The Belgian military contingent should number 120, including eight pilots. Defense Minister Pieter De Crem said the F-16 multirole fighters, to be based in Jordan, took off for a night stopover in Greece before the lawmakers voted so they would be ready to go into action as early as Saturday. In keeping with restrictions laid down by the lawmakers, the Belgian warplanes' role will be limited to missions over Iraq. (AP)

6:50 P.M. Islamic State fighters tightened their siege of the strategic town of Kobani on Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, pushing back Kurdish forces and sending shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.The Sunni Muslim insurgents, who launched their assault on Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides, took control of high ground to the west of the town and a village to the east in fierce fighting.

Kurds watching the fighting west of Kobani from hills on the Turkish side of the border - Syrian refugees and Turks among them - said they feared an imminent Islamic State assault on the town and called for U.S.-led air strikes on the insurgents. (Reuters)

6:44 P.M. Belgium joins U.S.-led coalition to fight Islamic State group in Iraq, will send six F-16s. (AP)

4:24 P.M. Tunisian military forces Friday attacked a stronghold of suspected jihadists in a western mountainous area, local media reported. The army used warplanes and heavy artillery to bomb the Islamist militants in the north-western province of Jendouba near the border with Algeria. No casualties were reported.

The strikes come a day after police said they had dismantled an 11-member terrorist network allegedly providing support to extremist operatives in the province. The Tunisian government has in recent weeks stepped up an anti-terrorism campaign against insurgents believed to be linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. (DPA)

4:04 P.M. There has been no significant progress in nuclear talks between Iran and major powers and, as a result, a meeting between the two sides planned for Friday had to be called off, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday.

"At this moment when I am talking, there have been no significant advances," Fabius told reporters. "We were due to have a meeting this morning of the P5+1 on one side and the Iranians on the other but because of a lack of progress, this meeting (had) to be called off."

Fabius did not specify at what level such a meeting was to be held but diplomats had previously said that they had set aside time on Friday for a meeting of ministers from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iran. (Reuters)

3:28 P.M. The German government offered clear support on Friday for U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State militants' bases inside Syria, with an aide to Chancellor Angela Merkel pointing out that Damascus had not made any protest.

Germany looks unlikely so far to join in the attacks by U.S. and Arab forces against IS militants in northern and eastern Syria, though it has now sent weapons, military trainers and equipment to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq.

"The attacks in northern Syria are not about Syria itself or the Syrian government, it is about helping the Iraqi government to defend Iraq against attacks carried out by IS from Syria," said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert. "That is the point of this military operation. The Syrian government was advised beforehand and has made no protest," he told a news conference. (Reuters)

1:55 P.M. The Danish government says it is joining the coalition to strike at the Islamic State extremist group, sending seven F-16 fighter jets to take part in airstrikes against the group in Iraq.

Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt says her left-leaning government has a parliamentary majority backing the deployment of four operational planes and three reserve jets along with 250 pilots and support staff.

She said Friday a vote in Parliament is planned and is considered a formality. However, no date was immediately set for the vote.

The Netherlands has already agreed to join the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Neither country plans to deploy in Syria.

Denmark has already contributed a transport plane to a U.S.-led humanitarian operation in northern Iraq. (AP)

11:53 A.M. Islamic State fighters edged towards a strategic town on northern Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, battling Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said. (Reuters)

11:29 A.M. Spanish and Moroccan police have arrested nine people suspected of belonging to a militant cell linked to Islamic State, Spain's Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The ministry said the nine belonged to a group based in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, on the northern coast of Africa, and neighboring Nador, Morocco.

Spanish media reported that one of those arrested was Spanish and the rest were Moroccan nationals. The Interior Ministry declined to comment, adding the investigation was still underway. (Reuters)

8:49 A.M. Air and missile strikes hit oilfields in eastern Syria in an apparent attack by U.S.-led forces against Islamic State militants, a monitoring group said on Friday.

An air strike hit the al-Tanak oilfield area in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through a network of sources.

Deir al-Zor, which borders Iraq, is almost entirely controlled by Islamic State militants and was a major oil-producing province before Syria's conflict began more than three years ago.
Other apparent missile strikes, also thought to be carried out by U.S.-led forces, hit the al-Quriyah area, also in eastern Deir al-Zor, the monitoring group said.

There were casualties, the group added, but did not give details. (Reuters)

2:51 A.M. Six world power have never been so close to a deal with Iran that would resolve the decade-long nuclear standoff once and for all, but the final phase of the negotiations will be the hardest, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"We have never been so close to a deal as now. But the truth is that the final phase of the talks that lay before us is probably the most difficult," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after meeting Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. (Reuters)

"Now is the time to end this conflict. I hope that Iran ... in view of the situation in the world and the situation in the Middle East, knows and senses that a collapse of the talks now is not permissible."

2:25 A.M. Forty countries and three major organizations urged Libya's feuding political leaders on Thursday to peacefully resolve the political and military crisis gripping the north African country.

A statement issued by the chairman of a high-level meeting convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly said the political polarization and military conflict are posing "a dangerous and significant threat" to the country's transition to democracy.

The UN announcement said a joint UN-Libyan committee would oversee a future cease-fire. (AP)

1:24 A.M. Around 1,000 recruits from a vast region stretching from India to the Pacific may have joined Islamic State to fight in Syria or Iraq, a senior U.S. military commander said on Thursday.

"That number could get larger as we go forward," Navy Admiral Samuel Locklear, who heads the U.S. Armed Forces' Pacific Command, told reporters at the Pentagon.

However, Locklear did not specify which of the 36 countries in the Pacific Command - some of which have their own Islamist movements - have been recruiting grounds for the Sunni fundamentalist militant group. (Reuters)