Arab states agree to confront Islamic State militants

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Arab states agreed on Sunday (Sep 7) to take the "necessary measures" and were prepared to cooperate internationally to confront Islamic State militants, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said.

At the start of a foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, Arabi had called for a political and military confrontation with the jihadists and other militants he said threatened the existence of Arab states.

He later stopped short of explicitly backing US air strikes targeting IS jihadists who control swathes of Iraq and Syria.

"The Arab foreign ministers have agreed to take the necessary measures to confront terrorist groups including IS", Arabi said at a news conference. "International cooperation is included; international cooperation on all fronts," he said.

The ministers agreed to "take all measures to counter terrorism: political, security and ideological," he added, without spelling out what these measures would be.

His remarks came as the United States expanded air strikes against the militants and sought wider regional backing for its campaign.

IS, originally an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq that expanded in the Syrian conflict, claims its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the rightful leader, or Caliph, of all Muslims.

The group's astonishing rise in Syria and Iraq had caught the weak government in Baghdad, and much of the region, off guard.