U.S. official: Arab nations offer to conduct airstrikes against ISIS

“There have been offers both to Centcom and to the Iraqis of Arab countries taking more aggressive kinetic action,” said the State Department official, who used the acronym for the United States Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East…

The State Department officials, who asked not to be identified under the agency’s protocol for briefing reporters, did not say which Arab nations had offered to carry out airstrikes, and there are also other ways Arab nations could participate in an air campaign against ISIS without dropping bombs, such as flying arms to Baghdad or Erbil in the Kurdistan region, conducting reconnaissance flights or providing logistical support and refueling. The officials said the Arab offers were under discussion.

“The Iraqis would have to be a major participant in that decision,” said the first State Department official. “It has to be well structured and organized.”