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Reuters
The new U.N. human rights chief urged world powers on Monday to protect women and minorities targeted by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, saying the fighters were trying to create a "house of blood".Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the first Muslim to hold the position, called for the international community to focus on ending the "increasingly conjoined" conflict in the two countries, and abuses in other hotspots from Ukraine to Gaza.
Islamic State's Sunni Muslim fighters have over-run large parts of Syria and Iraq since June, declaring a cross-border caliphate. The Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council last week agreed to send a team to investigate killings and other abuses carried out by the group on "an unimaginable scale". [ID:nL5N0R23C4]
Zeid, Jordan's former U.N. ambassador and a Jordanian prince, described Islamic State in his maiden speech to the Council as "takfiris" - hardline Sunni militants who justify killing others by branding them apostates.
McClatchy
WASHINGTON — The U.S.-led international strategy to combat the Islamic State that President Barack Obama sketched out Friday is likely to require years of thorny diplomacy and deeper U.S. military involvement in conflicts that he’s struggled to avoid.Obama’s remarks at the end of a NATO summit in Wales offered the administration’s most in-depth explanation to date of how it plans to fight the Islamic State, the transnational extremist group that has seized control of an area as large as Jordan straddling the dividing line between Syria and Iraq.
The nascent strategy calls for working with European and Arab allies to confront the group not only in Iraq, where the U.S. is conducting airstrikes to assist government-aligned fighters, but also in Syria, where the United States has failed to fulfill its years-long promise to help build a moderate rebel force.
The Guardian
The White House was on Monday finalising its plan for a sustained confrontation against Islamic State (Isis) militants, which could involve extending air strikes in Iraq to the jihadist group’s strongholds in Syria.President Obama will address the nation on Wednesday – the eve of the September 11 anniversary – to give details of how he plans to execute his “degrade and destroy” strategy against Isis.
In advance of the speech – which could herald a significant shift in Obama’s foreign policy – officials have been trying to drum up support for the president’s plan. On Tuesday, Obama will meet congressional leaders in Washington, where Democrats and Republicans are receptive to intensifying the fight against Isis. Hawks from both parties are urging the White House to attack Isis in regions of Syria where it has solidified its power base.
However, less than 24 hours before Obama’s meeting with Congress, officials in the administration were believed to be undecided about the wisdom of switching the focus from Iraq to Syria. The decision is expected to rest in part on the response from the international community to Wednesday’s speech.
BBC
Iraqi government forces say they have cleared Islamic State (IS) militants from a wide area around the strategic Haditha dam, helped by US air strikes.The jihadists have repeatedly tried to capture the dam on the River Euphrates, in the western province of Anbar.
The US air strikes were the first to have taken place outside northern Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament is scheduled to convene later on Monday to vote on Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi's proposed government.
The make-up of the cabinet has not been revealed, but Mr Abadi is expected to include representatives of all religious and ethnic factions.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Irbil says that should ease tensions between the Shia Arab majority and the Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities, which accused the outgoing administration of pursuing sectarian policies.