Obama-Led UNSC Adopts Resolution on Nationals Fighting Abroad

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday led the UN Security Council in approving a binding resolution compelling states to prevent their nationals joining extremists in Iraq and Syria.

During a high-level summit in New York on Wednesday, Obama chaired the session, calling on the world to join the US-led coalition to defeat extremists in Iraq and Syria, branding them terrorists engaged in a "network of death."

"The United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death," Obama told the UN General Assembly. "Today I ask the world to join in this effort."

"The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force," Obama said in his address to the 193-nation Assembly.

The resolution states that "nations must prevent the movement of terrorist or terrorist groups through their territory and ensure that domestic laws allow for prosecution of those who attempt to do so," Obama said.

The resolution falls under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which means the measures could be enforced by economic sanctions or military force.

According to US intelligence estimates, approximately 15,000 foreign militants from 80 countries have joined the ranks of extremists in Syria.

Yet, even as Obama spoke, a so-called "Daesh" [ISIL]-linked group in Algeria which had demanded France halt its participation in the US-led coalition against extremists, posted video footage of the murder of an abducted Frenchman. 

Furthermore, Obama on Wednesday slammed Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine but offered to lift sanctions against Moscow if it threw its weight behind an unraveling peace deal with Kiev.

Obama told a special UN General Assembly session that Russia was on the wrong side of history in Ukraine. Yet, he also stressed that a ceasefire deal agreed earlier this month [September] offered an opening toward diplomacy and peace.

"We will impose a cost on Russia for aggression," according to Obama. Yet, if Moscow "changes course", he said, "we will lift our sanctions and welcome Russia's role in addressing common challenges," he said. 

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team