President Obama on Wednesday thanked Britain and Germany for agreeing to step up their attacks against the Islamic State, after Obama had said other members of the 65-nation coalition fighting the terrorist group need to do more.
“I welcome the vote by the United Kingdom to join coalition partners striking ISIL targets in Syria,” Obama said about Parliament’s vote Wednesday authorizing Prime Minister David Cameron to commit British warplanes to the effort.
Cameron previously failed to persuade lawmakers in the United Kingdom to participate in the U.S.-led bombing campaign.
“The special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is rooted in our shared values and mutual commitment to global peace, prosperity, and security,” Obama stated. “Since the beginning of the counter-ISIL campaign, the United Kingdom has been one of our most valued partners,” he said, using his preferred acronym for the radical group.
“We look forward to having British forces flying with the coalition over Syria, and will work to integrate them into our Coalition Air Tasking Orders as quickly as possible,” he said.
France has already stepped up its sorties since the attacks, and Russia has reportedly begun targeting Islamic State positions more since the terrorists bombed a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31.
Germany’s cabinet on Tuesday committed as many as 1,200 troops to the effort. The German effort may also include flying reconnaissance missions, deploying aircraft tankers and supporting France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which is stationed in the Persian Gulf.
“While this still requires German parliamentary approval, this is a clear sign of Germany’s continued commitment to the counter-ISIL campaign and to working with a broad range of partners to defeat this shared threat,” Obama stated.
The administration is also pressing Turkey to do more to seal its border with Syria in the wake of the Paris violence, given that some of the perpetrators were foreign fighters who returned from Syria to wreak havoc on the City of Lights.
Obama discussed the issue with Turkish President Tyyip Erdogan in Paris on Tuesday, where both men were attending the United Nations climate change summit.
“There are some part of that border where the Turks have worked effectively to shut … down the flow of foreign fighters and … elicit finance,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
“President Obama raised directly with President Erdogan … that there continues to be a gap along the Turkey-Syria border that is not secure to our satisfaction,” Earnest said, reiterating remarks Obama made during a news conference in Paris on Tuesday. “And we do have concerns that ISIL is exploiting that gap to move foreign fighters and to move black market products that can used to finance their operations.”
