Secretary of State John Kerry pressed key Arab states on Thursday to support an expanded American military campaign against Islamic State jihadists including US air strikes in Syria, even as a report from Baghdad said at least 30 people were killed and 86 hurt in the Iraqi capital in a pair of twin attacks coinciding with Kerry’s unannounced visit.
Kerry arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Jeddah and said “I’m confident” as he was greeted by the kingdom’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Kerry will hold talks with counterparts from 10 Arab nations and Turkey hours after US President Barack Obama outlined his new strategy to confront the jehadists in a prime-time television address.
Steeling his nation for another foreign conflict, Obama pledged to expand US military operations against IS, a radical Islamist group that has seized a swathe of Iraq and Syria and committed horrifying atrocities.