International community vows to fight terrorism, extremism

Participants in an international conference in Paris Monday agreed to provide Iraqi authorities with "any means necessary," including military assistance, to quell Islamist militants as China urged addressing both symptoms and root causes of terrorism.
The Paris conference on security and peace in Iraq brought together delegations of about 30 countries and multilateral organizations for talks on how to combat the Islamic State.
"They are committed to supporting the new Iraqi government in its fight... by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance, in line with the needs expressed by the Iraqi authorities, in accordance with international law and without jeopardizing civilian security," a joint statement said.
China called for solutions to tackle "both symptoms and root causes of terrorism" in Iraq and Syria and giving full play to the leading role of the United Nations.
"In the fight against terrorism, military means can only cure the symptoms. Actions must respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the countries concerned to comply with the principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms of international relations," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said.
He called on the international community to back a self-directed, orderly political transition in countries of the region and help them ensure conditions for lasting peace and stability.
"The restoration of peace and stability in Iraq and throughout the region depends not only on Iraqis' own efforts, but also on the assistance of the international community," he said.
The Chinese diplomat also said Iraq's different factions should continuously push for political dialogue and reconciliation and care for the interests of Iraqi people.
"The international community should support the new Iraqi government and its reforms, provide more humanitarian aid to Iraq, and help the country revive economic process as soon as possible, so as to achieve economic and social development and get rid of poverty, extremism and violence," Li said.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said military actions against Islamic State (IS) militants are needed to "degrade and defeat this terrorist organization" as they pose global threat.
"ISIS (Islamic State) commits horrific atrocities and I would say witnessing manslaughter, their attacks against religious and ethnic minorities in my opinion it is pretty close to genocide. In my opinion that gives such a military operation legitimacy within the principles of UN Charter," Rasmussen said.
But he said NATO as an organization would not launch airstrikes against the group as the military organization agreed earlier this month to play a coordinating role in providing security assistance for Iraq.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the international community to jointly defeat terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa.
He insisted that the fight against terrorism and extremism must be given top priority among all political projects. "The spread of international terrorism must be prevented first," he said.
The minister also said Moscow would assist the countries suffering from terrorism by "military and other means".
Also on Monday, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on a target of IS forces southwest of Baghdad, according to U.S. Central Command.
The strike indicated an expansion of the U.S. military campaign against the IS forces that have seized large swaths of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
"The airstrike southwest of Baghdad was the first strike taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit (IS) targets as Iraqi forces go on offense," said the statement released by the U.S. Central Command.
Since Aug. 7, U.S. Central Command has conducted more than 150 airstrikes across Iraq.