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         Syria Welcomes 'Coordinated' International Help in Fighting IS

   by VOA News

   Syria says it is willing to work with the international community,
   including the United States and Britain, to fight the advance of
   Islamic State militants inside Syria, but warned that any attacks
   should only be carried out in coordination with Damascus.

   Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Monday that Syria is ready to
   help enforce a United Nations Security Council resolution approved
   earlier this month aimed at cutting funding and the flow of foreign
   fighters to the Islamic State and al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, the
   al-Nusra Front.

   The U.S. is already carrying out extensive airstrikes with fighter jets
   and drones against Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq. The attacks
   have helped Kurdish soldiers retake the key Mosul Dam that supplies
   electricity and irrigation to a large swath of Iraq.

   Late last week, after an American journalist was beheaded by the
   militants, Washington said it is considering expanding its operations
   to attack Islamic State positions inside neighboring Syria.

   ''But there is no sign that Washington is easing its opposition to
   Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has maintained power during a
   bloody three-year fight against insurgents, including Islamic State
   militants, seeking to overthrow him.

   Moallem said that any unilateral action by the United States inside
   Syria "would be an act of aggression." In that event, he warned that
   Syria's air defenses could attempt to shoot down U.S. warplanes.

   ''The Islamic State group has taken over much of eastern Syria and
   northern and western Iraq as it seeks to impose an Islamic caliphate
   without regard to national borders.

   The group's fighters have continued to advance, seizing territory from
   both armed opposition groups in Syria's northern Aleppo province and
   from the Syrian army in northern Raqqa province. The Islamic State took
   control Sunday of Tabqa air base, the last Syrian military outpost in
   Raqqa.

   Meanwhile, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay accused the Islamic
   State of carrying out "widespread ethnic and religious cleansing,"
   targeting people based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian
   affiliation. She said such persecution amounts to crimes against
   humanity.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/syria-welcomes-coordinated-internatio
   nal-help-in-fighting-islamic-state/2427235.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/syria-welcomes-coordinated-international-help-in-fighting-islamic-state/2427235.html