Coalition Emerges to Battle Islamic State Militants

By Dion Nissenbaum and Stacy Meichtry, WSJ
Sept. 4, 2014 7:42 p.m. ET

NEWPORT, Wales—American allies including the U.K. and France said they would help form an international military coalition to fight a growing threat from Islamic State militants.

While members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting here on Thursday were weighing what role they would play, U.S. officials urged them to commit to a strategy that includes providing more arms to Kurdish forces fighting the Islamist insurgents in northern Iraq.

The American plan also entails choking off the financial resources the militants rely on to pay their fighters, curbing the flow of foreign extremists and backing Arab forces capable of battling Islamic State.

One of the most impassioned pleas at the NATO summit came from King Abdullah of Jordan, who implored world leaders to create a "coalition of the committed" to fight Islamic State, said participants in the private meetings.

(More here.)