The UN Security Council on Friday urged its members to ramp up their fight against Islamic State (IS) militants after the Paris attacks, as Europe said it would tighten border checks and Brussels issued its highest terror alert.
At the UN, Russia joined Western powers in backing the French-drafted text that authorizes countries to “take all necessary measures” to fight the IS and other extremist groups linked to al-Qaeda.
Describing the Islamic State as a “global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security,” the resolution called for sanctions and urges countries to step up efforts to cut off the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria.
French President Francois Hollande welcomed the move, even though the text does not provide any legal basis for military action, saying it would “contribute to mobilizing nations to eliminate DAESH,” using an Arabic-language acronym for the Islamic State group.
French diplomats said it would provide important international political support to the anti-IS campaign, which has been ramped up since the attacks in Paris and after the IS said it downed a Russian passenger jet in Egypt last month.
“Today’s vote shows beyond doubt the breadth of international support for doing more in Syria and for decisive action to eradicate ISIL,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said, using the former name of the IS, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which he labeled an “evil death cult.”
Russia pounded the militant group in Syria on Friday, firing cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea into IS-controlled territory in what the Russian Ministry of Defense called an “aerial campaign of retribution” against the militants.
“At least 36 people were killed and dozens more injured in more than 70 raids carried out by Russian and Syrian planes against several districts in Deir Ezzor,” Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
He described the raids as “the worst bombardment of the region since the start of the uprising in 2011.”
In Brussels, French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said he and his EU counterparts agreed in crisis talks to “immediately” tighten checks on points of entry to the 26-country Schengen area.
Cazeneuve said the European Commission would present plans to introduce “obligatory checks at all external borders for all travelers,” including EU citizens, by the year’s end.
Previously, only non-EU nationals had their details checked against a database for terrorism and crime when they enter the Schengen area.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte late on Friday said he was increasingly irritated that the EU was moving so slowly to secure its borders, adding the Netherlands was ready “to run the whole show” with other countries if necessary.
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