CFR Update 9/26 Security Council Moves Against Foreign Terror Fighters

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Daily News Brief September 25, 2014

Top of the Agenda Security Council Moves Against Foreign Terror Fighters The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution that obstructs the flow of foreign terror fighters (Guardian) traveling to join militant causes. The resolution followed President Barack Obama's call, in his address to the UN General Assembly, for leaders to stand united in a global response to "dismantle networks of death." French President François Hollande joined in condemning jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, denouncing the beheading of a French tourist (France24) by an Algerian group with ties to ISIS. Meanwhile, a third night of U.S.-led airstrikes (Reuters) in Syria targeted ISIS-controlled oil refineries but did not prevent the group from advancing in Kurdish areas. Analysis "How realistic, really, is the vision of a broad multilateral conference among regional powers (presumably including Russia and Iran as well as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Israel) to resolve differences over Syria? The administration, of course, is already grappling with these questions—and hopefully will deliver convincing answers to them after the bilateral meetings this week. For now, however, Obama has delivered the right –and crucial—message to his fellow delegates at the United Nations," writes CFR's Stewart Patrick. "The Security Council should take on the growing foreign-fighter threat. But, as Mr. Obama acknowledged, adherence to the rule of law and human rights must be part of any counterterrorism strategy. Anything less would end up fueling more violent extremism," writes the New York Times. "What the world hears Obama saying is that the U.S. will use force to avenge the deaths of two American journalists, but will stand by while 200,000 Syrians are slaughtered. Unless U.S. military action is seen as actually protecting the lives and property of the Iraqi and Syrian people, the U.S. will quickly lose the propaganda war to the Islamic state," writes Anne-Marie Slaughter in Project Syndicate.