Obama to Address Fight against Islamic State in UN Speech | WPN World People News

President Barack Obama goes before the United Nations to deliver a speech Wednesday focusing on the fight against Islamic State militants.

Senior administration officials say the president's address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York will highlight efforts to build an international coalition to combat the group that has taken over large areas in Syria and Iraq.

Later Wednesday, Obama will chair a U.N. Security Council meeting where members are expected to adopt a resolution addressing the flow of foreign fighters traveling to join terror groups.

The meetings follow the U.S. military's expansion of its air campaign against the Islamic State group from areas in Iraq to airstrikes targeting the militants in Syria.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported new airstrikes overnight in northern Syria along an area near Turkey where a militant advance last week sent 130,000 people fleeing across the border.

There was no immediate confirmation of the strikes from the Pentagon or verification that the airstrikes were carried out by a U.S.-led coalition. The initial strikes in Syria included help from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Syrian forces have conducted their own airstrikes against militants and opposition fighters throughout the country's three-year civil war.

The United States said Tuesday it launched the attacks against the Islamic State in Syria because the Syrian government cannot and will not stop the militants from setting up safe havens.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power wrote in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the Islamic State group had used safe havens inside Syria to train, finance and launch attacks against the Iraqi people.

She wrote that the U.N. Charter calls on member states to prevent such actions on its territory, and that Syria is unwilling or unable to do that.

President Obama said the U.S. will not tolerate safe havens for terrorists who threaten Americans.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. did not request permission from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the airstrikes, but had notified the country's U.N. representative that action would be taken.

Source: Voice of America