Arab League leader calls for unity against Islamic State

CAIRO , Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The Arab League agreed Sunday to confront the Islamic State and cooperate with Iraqi and Western efforts to combat it.

The 22-member group, meeting in Cairo, Egypt, includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- each a country with an effective air force -- and heard Secretary-General Nadir Arabi call the Islamist militant group a threat to be confronted "militarily and politically."

He added that Arab countries need a "clear and firm decision for a comprehensive confrontation" to "cancerous and terrorist" groups.

The League also endorsed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for member nations to "act to suppress the flow of foreign fighters, financing and other support to Islamist extremist groups in Iraq and Syria."

Arabi's comments, which appear to endorse a Western intervention to stop IS, included a call for a "comprehensive confrontation" with the threat.

Last month Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah warned Europe and the United States could be IS targets, saying, "If neglected, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America. These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them severing heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street."