UN Security Council: States must take 'all necessary measures' to defeat Islamic State
French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre speaks after a UN Security Council vote on a French-sponsored counterterrorism resolution aimed at Islamic extremists on Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan. Credit: AP / Bebeto Matthews
UNITED NATIONS -- Calling Islamic State "a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security," the UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to call on member states to take "all necessary measures" to defeat the terror group.
The vote on the resolution drafted by France comes one week after the Islamic State-linked attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, an act that followed a string of terrorism in recent weeks claimed by the group, also known as ISIS.
The attacks occurred in Sousse, Tunisia; Ankara, Turkey; over the Sinai Desert in Egypt with the downing of a Russian jet, and in Beirut.
"With this resolution we have the legal and political framework to mobilize the entire international community in the fight against Da'esh," said France's ambassador to the UN, Francois Dellatre, after the vote at UN headquarters in Manhattan.
Da'esh is what the French call ISIS.
The resolution stated that Islamic State "has the capability and intention to carry out" acts of terrorism and urged "member states that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures, in compliance with international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law."
Dellatre reminded journalists during a news conference that France has already stepped up its assaults on Islamic State in the Syrian city of Raqqah, where it has established a base, adding that the arrival soon of an aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, will triple France's firepower.
The resolution also urges member states to target organizations linked to al-Qaida, such as al-Nusrah Front, an offshoot that is operating alongside ISIS in a quest to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
It comes on a day that a Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, was attacked by terrorists who took hostages, killing at least 20 people.
Malian and French special forces responded to the attack. Several news reports said an al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for the carnage.
British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft called the acceptance of the counter-terrorism measure -- one week after the attacks in Paris -- "speedy in terms of the adoption of a unanimous resolution" at the Security Council, which since the start of the civil war in Syria in March 2011 has deadlocked on major resolutions aimed at stopping the bloodshed and foreign fighters that the conflict has drawn into a region-wide war.
"That symbol of unity is powerful," Rycroft said, adding "This is a unanimous call to action for all member states to take action on that legal basis."
