Obama and Cameron Appeal to NATO to Counter the Islamic State

As leaders met for a NATO summit in Wales, U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron called on NATO to confront the Islamic State, in an opinion piece for The Times of London. In interviews at the summit, Cameron stressed the importance of cooperation with local partners, but noted that he and other NATO leaders would "not rule anything out" in combatting Islamic State militants. Cameron however refused to work with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, calling the government illegitimate and suggesting Assad’s consent would not be necessary to conduct airstrikes in Syrian territory. Meanwhile, the British government has been funding a team of international experts to conduct an investigation into suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Islamic State militants. Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday that it found evidence of three additional sites where Islamic State militants appeared to have carried out mass executions of mainly Iraqi soldiers. Turkey said it has tightened control of its border to "close a "jihadist highway" where arms and fighters have flowed into Syria to the Islamic State.   

Headlines

• The family of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, who was executed by Islamic State militants, addressed the public saying, "We will not allow our enemies to hold us hostage" with fear.
• Iran and the United States held bilateral talks in Geneva Thursday, with negotiations between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear development program set to resume on Sept. 18 in New York.
• A group of Israeli energy companies have signed a $15 billion deal to sell natural gas to Jordan’s National Electric Power Co.
• A massive power outage triggered blackouts across most of Cairo during Thursday’s morning rush hour in the most extensive power cut in the Egyptian capital in years.
• A military jet crashed, reportedly due to technical failure, near Libya’s new parliamentary building in the eastern city of Tobruk, killing the pilot and four other people.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Obama Needs Both a Peace Plan and a War Plan‘ (Daniel Serwer, Middle East Institute)

"Rollback also raises the question of who would secure and govern any areas that are taken back from the IS. Washington recognizes the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) as the political representative of the Syrian people, and it will need enormous strengthening if it is to provide policing and governance in areas from which IS has been rolled back.  The SOC will also need continued military protection. Assad has often bombarded liberated areas, including hospitals and schools, in an effort to make them ungovernable. The strategy will therefore have to include a commitment to continued application of military force as well as a plan for governance, justice and delivery of services. If liberated areas are left unprotected, the IS or the Assad regime will return, sooner rather than later."

‘Protests in Yemen Expose Weak Governance and Poor Economic Planning‘ (Danya Greenfield and Svetlana Milbert, Atlantic Council)

"Estimates of 10,000 Yemenis protesting in the streets of Sana’a against lifting fuel subsidies have prompted international concern-mostly regarding the Houthi movement’s ability to mobilize such masses in their aggressive game of Russian roulette with the Yemeni government. The Houthi movement has threatened further action unless a new government is put in place and fuel subsidies are reinstated, placing Yemeni President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi in an impossible situation. The recent demonstrations illustrate two deeper and more serious trends that warrant attention.

First, the Houthi movement has tapped into a reservoir of frustration and resentment among the Yemeni public that reaches far beyond its traditional support base among the Zaydi Shia population centered in the northern Sa’ada province. Second, the complete lack of attention and lack of political will to address urgent economic and fiscal crises has now brought Yemen to a near standstill. In a country where more than 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and 30 percent suffer from food insecurity, the overnight removal of one of the few tangible social benefits is reason enough to take to the streets. Both points glaringly illustrate the failure of the transitional government to provide economic opportunities to improve the day-to-day life of millions of Yemenis."

— Mary Casey