CAIRO
The foreign ministers of various Arab states meeting in the western Saudi city of Jeddah on Thursday declared their shared commitment to stand united against the threat posed to the Middle East region and the world by terrorism.
The ministers representing these countries, which included, among others, member states in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United States, Egypt Iraq and Jordan, agreed that this shared threat included the militant Islamic State movement, according to a communiqué of the meeting.
The foreign ministers agreed that their countries would do their share in the comprehensive fight against the Islamic State, the communiqué said.
It added that actions in this regard included stopping the flow of foreign fighters through neighboring countries; countering financing to the Islamic State and other violent extremists; repudiating their hateful ideology; ending impunity and bringing perpetrators to justice; contributing to humanitarian relief efforts; assisting with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of communities brutalized by the Islamic State; supporting states that face the most acute Islamic State threat, and, as appropriate, joining in the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign against the Islamic State.
The Jeddah meeting comes hard on the heels of an announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama regarding a comprehensive strategy for fighting terrorism in the Middle East.
The U.S., for its part, hopes to form a 40-nation alliance to combat the militant group.
The Islamic State is comprised of militants – including a number of foreign fighters – who recently managed to capture large swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria and have ambitions to establish an "Islamic Caliphate."
However, recent atrocities committed by the militants – including the beheading of opponents – have served to appall observers across the world.
The foreign ministers meeting in Jeddah also welcomed the formation of the new and "inclusive" government in Iraq and expressed support for the immediate steps it had pledged to take to advance the interests of all Iraq's citizens, the communiqué of the meeting said.
Meanwhile, Turkey, also participated in the meeting, refrained from signing a joint declaration on fighting against IS. Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu continued his contacts with bilateral meetings.
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