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In U.N. speech, Obama appeals for broad coalition against Islamic State

25 September 2014 00:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. President Barack Obama made his case to the United Nations on Wednesday for a more forceful, coordinated global response against Islamic militants in the Middle East that would seek to dismantle their "network of death," APA reports quoting Reuters

In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Obama used graphic language to condemn the methods of the Islamic State group that has taken over swaths of Iraq and Syria, saying it had used rape as a weapon of war, gunned down children, dumped bodies in mass graves, and beheaded their victims.

Obama, who this week expanded the U.S.-led military campaign into Syria with support from five Arab nations, warned Islamic State fighters to "leave the battlefield while they can." Before the president spoke, U.S.-led airstrikes for the third time this week pounded targets.

"Today, I ask the world to join in this effort," Obama said. He said more than 40 nations have offered to join the coalition against the militants in Iraq and Syria.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, due to speak at the United Nations later in the day, was among world leaders weighing whether his country would join the military drive.

The U.S. president's over-arching message was aimed at bolstering the fight, both militarily and diplomatically.

Obama, whose legacy is based in part on his decision to extract U.S. forces from Iraq, said the United States does not intend to occupy any countries, but wants to act in concert with other nations to support people fighting to reclaim their communities from militants.

"The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death," Obama said in a speech that ran to just under 40 minutes.