Arab nations rallied today behind US President Barack Obama's call for expanding operations against jihadists in Iraq and Syria, but Damascus warned it would consider any action on its territory as an attack.
Ten states, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, "agreed to do their share in the comprehensive fight" against Islamic State, said a statement after a meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Arab counterparts.
With Iraq's new unity government and the Syrian opposition welcoming Obama's plan, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and powerful ally Russia strongly condemned it.
"Any action of any kind without the consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on Syria," National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said.
Obama said yesterday he had ordered the US military to expand its operations against IS, a radical Islamist group that has seized a swathe of Iraq and Syria and committed horrifying atrocities.
"Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy," Obama said in a television address, using an alternative acronym for the group.
"I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq."
Obama announced the dispatch of another 475 military personnel to help train Iraqi forces to take on IS, bringing the total in the country to 1,600.
But he stressed that the campaign would not be a repeat of the exhausting ground wars fought by US troops in the past decade.
Instead, Washington is looking to empower partners on the ground like Iraqi and Kurdish forces, as well as Syrian rebels, to fill in territory opened up by its air power.
Key to that will be improving the effectiveness of the rebels, and Obama called on Congress to swiftly authorise an operation to train and equip moderate fighters.
