Damascus/Kirkuk: US secretary of state John Kerry has called for a global coalition to combat the ISIS jihadist group and their “genocidal agenda”. His remarks came as Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah warned that the West would be the group’s next target unless there was swift action to stem their advances through Iraq and Syria. In Britain, meanwhile, authorities raised the terror alert level over fears of possible jihadist attacks.
In Syria, clashes broke out between Philippine UN peacekeepers and another jihadist group, the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, which is also holding hostage dozens of Fijian UN peacekeepers.
Writing in the New York Times, a week before a Nato summit in Wales, Mr Kerry urged “a united response led by the US and the broadest possible coalition of nations”. He said he and defence secretary Chuck Hagel would meet European counterparts on the sidelines of the summit to enlist assistance.
