UN unanimously approves ‘all necessary measures’ to fight ISIS

United Nations Security Council at the United Nations headquarters Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. AP File Photo

UNITED NATIONS, United States—The UN Security Council on Friday authorized countries to “take all necessary measures” to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group in a resolution that won unanimous backing a week after the Paris attacks.

READ: France wants UN to authorize ‘all necessary measures’ against ISIS

The French-drafted measure calls on all UN member states to “redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist attacks” committed by IS and other extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius welcomed the adoption and said in a statement that the resolution showed the world’s resolve to confront IS jihadists.

“It is now important for all countries to commit themselves in a concrete manner to this fight, either through military action, the search for political solutions or the battle against terrorist financing,” said Fabius.

READ: Russia, France push UN resolutions on fighting ISIS

The resolution does not provide any legal basis for military action and does not invoke chapter seven of the UN charter that authorizes the use of force.

But French diplomats maintain that it will provide important international political support to the anti-IS campaign that has been ramped up since the attacks in Paris a week ago.

The resolution calls on member states “that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures, in compliance with international law… on the territory under the control of ISIL or ISIS, also known as Daesh, in Syria and Iraq.”

Global threat

Describing IS as a “global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security,” the resolution calls for sanctions and urges countries to step up efforts to cut off the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria.

The 28-year-old ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, is believed to have traveled to Syria to join IS and be trained as an operative in Europe.

The resolution “unequivocally condemns in the strongest terms the horrifying terrorist attacks” in Paris and in Beirut, and also mentions violence in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt this year.

France put forward the resolution to the 15-member council on Thursday and sought quick approval to buttress international resolve to defeat the jihadists from their bases of operation in Syria and Iraq.

The vote came exactly a week after coordinated attacks claimed by ISIS targeted a packed concert hall, football stadium, bars and restaurants in Paris, killing 130 people and wounded hundreds.

Two weeks earlier, a Russian airliner was downed by a bomb, killing all 224 people on board, in a separate attack that IS claims was carried out using explosives packed in a can of Schweppes soft drink.

Terrorism fears were running high on Friday following an attack on a luxury hotel in Mali, but there was no confirmation of a link to ISIS jihadists in that rampage.

France has been pounding ISIS targets in Syria since September, invoking the right to self-defense contained in article 51 of the UN charter, but Russia began air strikes after receiving a request from Damascus for assistance.