Obama Calls For Dismantling IS 'Network Of Death'

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Declaring the world at a crossroads between war and peace, President Barack Obama vowed at the U.N. on Wednesday to lead a coalition to dismantle an Islamic State "network of death" that has wreaked havoc in the Middle East and drawn the U.S. back into military action.

Speaking to the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly, Obama said the U.S. would be a "respectful and constructive partner" in confronting the militants through force. But he also implored Muslims in the Middle East to reject the ideology that has spawned groups like the Islamic State and to cut off funding that has allowed that terror group and others to thrive.

"Ultimately, the task of rejecting sectarianism and extremism is a generational task — a task for the people of the Middle East themselves," Obama said in his 38-minute address. "No external power can bring about a transformation of hearts and minds."

The president's remarks came against the backdrop of an expanded U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State group, with airstrikes now hitting targets in both Iraq and Syria. A coalition of five Arab nations joined the U.S. this week in the strikes in Syria: Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The U.S. also opened another military front with airstrikes this week against a new al-Qaida cell that the Pentagon said was "nearing the execution phase" of a direct attack on the U.S. or Europe. The threats have drawn Obama back into conflicts in the Middle East that he has long sought to avoid, particularly in Syria, which is mired in a bloody three-year civil war. Just months ago, the president appeared to be on track to fulfill his pledge to end the U.S.-led wars he inherited in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama sought to distinguish this current military campaign from those lengthy wars, declaring that he has no intention of sending U.S. troops to occupy foreign lands. "We will neither tolerate terrorist safe havens nor act as an occupying power," he said.

The militant threat in the Middle East is just one in a series of global crises that have tested Obama this year. Russia has repeatedly flouted warning from the U.S. and Europe to stop its threatening moves in Ukraine. And leaders in West Africa have criticized Obama for not doing more to help combat an Ebola outbreak that is believed to have infected more than 5,800 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal.

Obama took on Russia directly in his remarks, accusing Moscow of sending arms to pro-Kremlin separatists, refusing to allow access to the site of a downed civilian airliner and then moving its own troops across the border with Ukraine.

"This is a vision of the world in which might makes right, a world in which one nation's borders can be redrawn by another, and civilized people are not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones because of the truth that might be revealed," Obama said. "America stands for something different."

Still, Obama held open the prospect of a resolution to the monthslong conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While he has previously expressed skepticism about a fragile cease-fire signed earlier this month, he said Wednesday that the agreement "offers an opening" for peace.

If Russia follows through on the agreement, Obama said the U.S. will lift economic sanctions that have damaged Russia's economy but so far done little to shift President Vladimir Putin's approach. As Obama spoke, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sat in the audience at the U.N., staring down at a stack of papers without glancing up at Obama.

The chaotic global landscape Obama described Wednesday stood in contrast to his remarks at the U.N. one year ago, when he spoke of diplomatic openings on multiple fronts. At the time, the U.S. was embarking on another attempt to forge an elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians and there were signs of a thaw in the decades-old tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The Mideast peace talks have since collapsed, though the president said Wednesday that "as bleak as the landscape appears, America will never give up the pursuit of peace." And while the U.S., Iran and world powers are now in the midst of nuclear negotiations, the talks are deadlocked and there is skepticism about whether a deal can be reached by a Nov. 24 deadline.

"My message to Iran's leaders and people is simple: Do not let this opportunity pass," Obama said. "We can reach a solution that meets your energy needs while assuring the world that your program is peaceful."

Later Wednesday, Obama was to hold his first one-on-one meeting with new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office this month. The U.S. has blamed the former Iraqi leadership's lack of inclusiveness for giving the Islamic State a recruiting tool and had made the formation of a new government a condition for deeper military action to stop the militant group.

Obama also was convening an unusual meeting of the U.N. Security Council, during which members were expected to adopt a resolution that would require all countries to prevent the recruitment and transport of would-be foreign fighters preparing to join terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group.

Even as the president cast the U.S. as the main driver of peace and security around the world, he acknowledged that his country has not always lived up to its own ideals. He singled out in particular the recent clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, that followed the shooting death of a black teenager.

"Yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions," Obama said. "But we welcome the scrutiny of the world. Because what you see in America is a country that has steadily worked to address our problems and make our union more perfect."

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Anti-Addiction groups Call For New FDA Chief

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg poses for a portrait before a newsmaker interview at the Associated Press in Washington, in this May 30, 2014 file photo.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-addiction activists are calling for the Food and Drug Administration's top official to step down, saying the agency's policies have contributed to a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.

In a letter released Wednesday, more than a dozen groups ask the Obama administration's top health official to replace FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who has led the agency since 2009. The FDA has been under fire from public health advocates, politicians and law enforcement officials since last October, when it approved a powerful new painkiller called Zohydro against the recommendation of its own medical advisers.

The new letter is the first formal call for new leadership at the FDA over the issue. "We are especially frustrated by the FDA's continued approval of new, dangerous, high-dose opioid analgesics that are fueling high rates of addiction and overdose deaths," states the letter, which is addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, who oversees the FDA and other health agencies. The groups signing the letter include Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a 900-member advocacy group that petitioned the FDA to drastically restrict opioid use. The FDA rejected that petition last year.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said opioid abuse "is a serious issue and one that the secretary is focused on." "Secretary Burwell appreciates hearing from stakeholders on the important issue of prescription opioid abuse, and looks forward to responding to their letter," said spokeswoman Tait Sye, in a statement.

Deaths linked to the addictive medications, including OxyContin and Vicodin, have more than tripled over the last 20 years to an estimated 17,000 in 2011, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports figures.

The CDC has called on doctors to limit their use of the medications to the most serious cases of pain, such as cancer patients and end-of-life care. But the vast majority of prescriptions written in the U.S. are for more common ailments like arthritis and back pain.

Hamburg has supported broad use of the drugs, noting that 100 million Americans reportedly suffer from chronic pain. The letter to HHS says the commissioner and the FDA are out of step with efforts by the CDC and other parts of the federal government.

"Dr. Hamburg's support for using opioids to treat chronic non-cancer pain is squarely at odds with efforts by the CDC to discourage this widespread practice," states the letter, which is signed by the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse and 15 other groups.

FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson said Hamburg has been "a tireless public health advocate" for over 20 years. "Preventing prescription opioid abuse and ensuring that patients have access to appropriate treatments for pain are both top public health priorities for the FDA," Jefferson said in a statement.

The calls for Hamburg's resignation come almost a year after the FDA approved Zohydro, the first extended-release, pure form of hydrocodone ever cleared for the U.S. market. Hydrocodone was previously only available in immediate release, combination pills that contain smaller amounts of the drug.

Commissioner Hamburg has defended the drug's approval by saying that it fills an important medical niche. Older combination pills like Vicodin mix hydrocodone with other drugs like acetaminophen, which can cause liver damage at high levels.

Members of Congress from West Virginia, Massachusetts and Kentucky have introduced bills to ban the drug. And attorneys general from 28 states asked the FDA to revoke the drug's approval or require that the pills be reformulated to prevent users from crushing them for snorting or injection.

But Wednesday's letter also criticizes the FDA for approving drugs that are actually designed to be harder to abuse. The groups take issue with the agency's July approval of a new painkiller called Targiniq, which combines oxycodone with the ingredient naloxone. The addition of naloxone is designed to block the euphoric effects of oxycodone when it is snorted or injected. But the groups point out that Targiniq tablets can still be abused by simply chewing them — the most common approach to abusing painkillers.

The FDA has faced criticism from lawmakers representing states that have been hardest hit by opioid abuse, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky.

Media representatives for all three lawmakers declined to comment on the letter. The American Pain Society, which represents physician pain specialists, also declined to comment for this story.

Obama To Address UN Amid New Mideast Strikes

President Barack Obama, flanked by Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, speaks during his meeting with the representatives of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. 

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama is addressing the United Nations as a commander in chief overseeing a war against militants in two Middle Eastern nations, a striking shift in the trajectory of a presidency that had been focused on ending conflicts in the region.

Instead, when he speaks to the world body Wednesday, he will cast the U.S. as the linchpin in efforts to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, administration officials said. After weeks of launching strikes against militant targets in Iraq, Obama extended the military action into Syria on Monday, joined by an unexpected coalition of five Arab nations. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates joined the U.S. in carrying out airstrikes, while Qatar played a supporting role.

The partnership with Arab countries marked a rare victory for Obama during a tough stretch in which his foreign policy has been challenged not only by the Middle East militants, but also Russia's provocations in Ukraine and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Officials said Obama will also address ways the U.S. has sought to mobilize international action to resolve the Ukraine and Ebola crises as well, including getting deepening economic sanctions on Russia and dispatching 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help deal with the Ebola outbreak.

And they said Obama would address the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran that followed his historic phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani one year ago. Despite some progress, the talks are deadlocked as a Nov. 24 deadline looms.

But the growing U.S. military role in the Middle East will be the centerpiece of the president's sixth address to the U.N. General Assembly. It comes at a time when Obama had hoped to be nearing the end of the second of the two wars he inherited in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Instead, the U.S. is plunging back into military action in Iraq, as well as Syria, where Obama long has tried to avoid involvement in a bloody civil war now in its fourth year. The airstrikes were aimed at not only Islamic State targets but also a new al-Qaida cell that the Pentagon said was nearing the "execution phase" of a direct attack on the U.S. or Europe.

Obama will also hold his first one-on-one meeting Wednesday with new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office earlier this year. Later Wednesday, the president will convene an unusual meeting of the U.N. Security Council, during which members were expected to adopt a resolution that would require all countries to prevent the recruitment and transport of would-be foreign fighters preparing to join terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group.

However, Obama administration officials have acknowledged that U.N. resolutions can be notoriously difficult to enforce.

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

 President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks about the participation of five Arab nations in airstrikes against militants in Syria., Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, on the South Lawn the White House, in Washington, before heading to the United Nations. The president said the participation of five Arab nations in airstrikes against militants in Syria "makes it clear to the world this is not America's fight alone."

At Clinton Confab, Obama Praises Role Of Citizens

President Barack Obama is greeted by former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. Obama is in New York for three days of talks with foreign leaders.


NEW YORK (AP) — Ordinary citizens will often have a more lasting impact on their community than their presidents and prime ministers, President Barack Obama said Tuesday as he promoted civil society at the annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

Obama said when people are free to speak their mind and hold leaders accountable, their governments work better and are more responsive. He praised groups that work to promote the rights of women, minorities, laborers, gays and lesbians.

Former President Bill Clinton greeted Obama onstage with a hearty handshake and a few jokes. Obama said picking Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his secretary of state was one of his best decisions as president. He said now that she's left government she has "that post-administration glow."

Obama attended the annual Clinton confab on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings, which have been given new urgency this year by an array of crises facing the international community. At a fundraiser for Senate Democrats later Tuesday, Obama reflected on the instability that's taken hold from Russia and Ukraine to Syria and Iraq.

"We've gone through extraordinary challenges over the last decade," Obama told donors in a chic Upper West Side apartment overlooking the Hudson River. "The good news is this week, what you're seeing is what American leadership means."

Airstrikes Alone May Not Defeat Sunni Militants

This undated file photo posted Monday, June 30, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Center of the militant extremist group which calls itself the Islamic State, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the extremists during with captured military hardware during a parade in Raqqa, Syria

BAGHDAD (AP) — In their Syrian strongholds, extremists from the Islamic State group had been moving into civilian apartment buildings for cover days before the U.S. and its allies began pounding them before dawn Tuesday, activists say. It's just one sign of the difficulties in trying to destroy the group by relying mainly on airstrikes.

Breaking the militants' hold over the cities they have captured in both Iraq and Syria will be complicated because the group can easily melt into the population. In the Iraqi city of Mosul, the extremists have enough support among the mainly Sunni Muslim population that they have reduced the presence of their fighters in the streets without apparent worry about their grip on power.

Another problem is that there are no allied forces on the ground poised to move in to control territory should the militants retreat under the aerial bombardment. That's particularly the case in Syria, where rebels opposed to the Islamic State group have been almost completely driven from areas it controls. Across a broad stretch of eastern Syria, the only forces that could conceivably capitalize on the airstrikes at the moment are a few remaining units of President Bashar Assad's military, holed up in isolated bases in the Deir el-Zour and Hassakeh areas. But the Obama administration says it still wants Assad's ouster and doesn't want to help him regain ground.

So far, the coalition also has resisted calls by Kurds in Syria for arms, training and air cover. Those Kurdish forces, fighting in a group known as the YPG, had successfully pushed back the Islamic State group for two years in a band of territory that hugs the Syrian-Turkish border in the north and northwest. In recent days, however, the extremists have made gains in the area near the town of Kobani, forcing more than 130,000 people — mostly Kurds — to flee into Turkey.

A spokesman for the fighters said they could not match the firepower of the militants, who seized arms and armored vehicles from Iraqi forces fleeing their advance in June. The U.S. and its allies have been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq for weeks, and Iraqi government forces, Shiite militiamen and Iraqi Kurdish fighters moved in to retake two sites in the north after bombardments pushed back the extremists: the Mosul dam and the besieged village of Amirli.

So far, the strikes have not targeted large urban areas such as Mosul, Fallujah and Tikrit, where breaking the extremists' grip is harder and the risk of civilians casualties is higher. In a sign of their confidence, Islamic State group fighters paraded 30 captured Iraqi soldiers in pickup trucks through the streets of Fallujah on Tuesday, only hours after the coalition strikes across the border in Syria.

The opening salvo in Syria by the U.S. and Arab nations blasted key government buildings held by Islamic State fighters in their de facto capital of Raqqa as well as the group's checkpoints and bases around the east. Syrian activist groups reported dozens of extremist fighters killed with seemingly few civilian casualties, although precise numbers were impossible to get.

But many of the buildings hit in the strikes were already empty, said Rami Abdurrahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through activists in Syria. Most of the deaths came in strikes on a training camp and on checkpoints outside cities, he said.

For days before, militant fighters in Raqqa melted away among the city's civilians, said Abu Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, who oversees another secret collective of activists. "They are taking apartments in civilian buildings, so you have six flats full of Daesh fighters, and four flats of ordinary people," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Many of the militants sent their wives and children to nearby villages considered to be safer. Fighters have been appearing more rarely in the daytime and instead gather in public places like coffee shops at night, al-Raqqawi said, citing activists still in the city.

In Mosul — the largest Iraqi city in the territory across Syria and Iraq that is held by the group — residents say street patrols have been reduced because of the considerable support for the militants among the city's mainly Sunni Muslim population. There is deep resentment of the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad and the Kurds, whose self-ruled area is nearby.

"When you're in a city, the population can be a screen for you — you can hide behind it," said Michael Knights, an Iraq expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. The problem comes if residents move away from the group or lose their fear of it, he said. "Then a highly populated city becomes a dangerous place; there are a million eyes, a million informants, a million people who can pick up an AK-47."

The governor of Ninevah province, where Mosul is the capital, is trying to organize a militia of Mosul residents against the Islamic State group. The official, Atheel al-Nujaifi, was among those who fled the city when the militants first overran it in June. Now he operates from an office in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous zone.

A recent statement posted on al-Nujaifi's official website announced the plan for the so-called Mosul Battalions: "We will soon start the process of registering volunteers from Mosul to work toward liberating the city."

The Battalions claim to be operating already, announcing on social media there have been attacks on Islamic State group fighters, although it is impossible to confirm the statement's authenticity. Mosul residents tell The Associated Press that a number of armed factions have formed in recent weeks, often made up of former soldiers seeking to avenge colleagues killed by the militants. The groups have used roadside bombs and guns with silencers in attacks on the extremists, according to the residents who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were concerned for their safety.

In Syria, the long-divided rebel factions are trying to position themselves to capitalize on any damage wreaked on the Islamic State group. Some have formed united "operation rooms," hoping to be a vehicle for aid the U.S. has promised to the rebels to fight the extremists. Most prominent among them is one called the "Euphrates Volcano," grouping moderate rebel factions and Syrian Kurds.

Rebels east of the Syrian capital of Damascus successfully pushed back Islamic State fighters from their villages and towns in the spring, said an activist who is part of a rebel group called the Brigades of the Habib Moustafa. The group is a more moderate faction that is also seeking aid and training from the West.

The activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation, said the rebels' strategy first involved uniting rebel groups in an area east of Damascus known as the Ghouta against the Islamic State group. The main resistance they encountered was in areas where residents supported the extremists. So the rebel factions launched a campaign to reduce support, distributing pamphlets that explained crimes committed by the jihadis and asking Muslim preachers to talk about atrocities in their sermons.

"We need to raise awareness to break the people's sympathy for them," the activist said.

Hadid reported from Beirut. Sameer N. Yacoub and an Associated Press reporter in Mosul, Iraq, contributed to this report.

Airstrikes In Syria And Iraq Are Just The Start

President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and other officials, meet with the representatives of Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and United Arab Emirates in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The one-two-three punch of American and Arab airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq was just the beginning, President Barack Obama and other leaders declared Tuesday. They promised a sustained campaign showcasing a rare U.S.-Arab partnership aimed at Muslim extremists.

At the same time, in fresh evidence of how the terrorist threat continues to expand and mutate, the U.S. on its own struck a new al-Qaida cell that the Pentagon said was "nearing the execution phase" of a direct attack on the U.S. or Europe.

"This is not America's fight alone," Obama said of the military campaign against the Islamic State group. "We're going to do what's necessary to take the fight to this terrorist group, for the security of the country and the region and for the entire world."

Obama said the U.S. was "proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with Arab partners, and he called the roll: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, said four of the five had participated in the strikes, with Qatar playing a supporting role.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Turkey, too, is joining the coalition against the Islamic State group and "will be very engaged on the front lines of this effort." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in New York for U.N. meetings, said he was considering expanding support of NATO operations against the Islamic State to include military involvement.

In all, Kerry said, more than 50 nations are allied in the fight. It was a measure of the gravity of the threat and the complex politics of the problem that Syrian President Bashar Assad gave an indirect nod of approval to the airstrikes in his own country, saying he supported "any international anti-terrorism effort." There has been concern among U.S. officials that any strikes against militants fighting Assad could be seen as inadvertently helping the leader whom Obama wants to see ousted from power.

Monday night, in three waves of attacks launched over four hours, the U.S. and its Arab partners made more than 200 airstrikes against roughly a dozen militant targets in Syria, including Islamic State headquarters, training camps and barracks as well as targets of the rival Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch within Syria. The first wave, conducted by the U.S. alone, focused mostly on a shadowy network of al-Qaida veterans known as the Khorasan Group, based in northwestern Syria.

"We've been watching this group closely for some time, and we believe the Khorasan group was nearing the execution phase of an attack either in Europe or the homeland," said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The group is known to be working with the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida to recruit foreign fighters with Western passports and explosives to target U.S. aviation.

Pentagon officials released photos and video showing strikes on rooftop communications equipment at an Islamic State finance center in Raqqa, the group's self-declared capital in Syria. Another showed damage to a command-and-control building in the same city. A third showed damage in a residential area along the Syrian-Iraqi border that had been used as a training site for fighters.

A Syrian activist group reported that dozens of Islamic State fighters were killed in the strikes, but the numbers could not be independently confirmed. Several activists also reported at least 10 civilians killed.

Even as the military was still assessing the full impact of the strikes, U.S. officials pledged there was more to come. Obama met at the United Nations on Tuesday with representatives of the five Arab nations and told them the airstrikes were "obviously not the end of the effort, but this is the beginning." Mayville promised "a credible and sustainable persistent campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State.

The participation of the Arab nations marked an unusual public convergence of interests between the United States and its Sunni Arab partners against the Sunni Islamic State group. Each of the five had privately supported U.S. action, but until now had shied away from overt military cooperation against the militants, fearing reprisals. Each of the nations faces threats from militant Sunnis, but they all also harbor fears of growing assertiveness in the region by Iran, which is largely a Shiite country.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the top American military leader, called the coalition unprecedented and said the partnering had set the stage for a broader international campaign against the extremists. "We wanted to make sure that ISIL knew they have no safe haven, and we certainly achieved that," Dempsey told reporters as he flew to Washington after a weeklong trip to Europe. ISIL is an alternate name for the Islamic State group whose fighters swept across much of Iraq this summer.

Said Kerry in New York: "We are going to do what is necessary to take the fight to ISIL, to begin to make clear that terrorism, extremism does not have a place in the building of civilized society." The president got swift bipartisan backing from Congress. Republican House Speaker John Boehner called the airstrikes "just one step in what must be a larger effort to destroy and defeat" the Islamic State group. Mindful that Americans are weary after two prolonged wars in the region, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the participation of the Arab nations in the coalition and the president's pledge not to use U.S. ground forces in combat "are clear evidence that President Obama will not repeat the mistakes of the past."

Senior administration officials said Obama had the legal authority to take the action under an Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power had informed Syria of its intent to take action but did not request the Assad government's permission. Syria's two key allies, Iran and Russia, condemned the strikes. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called them illegal. Russia said "unilateral" U.S. airstrikes were destabilizing the region and urged Washington to secure either Damascus' consent or U.N. Security Council support.

U.S. Central Command said the bombing mission against the Khorasan group took place west of the Syrian city of Aleppo, with targets including training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communication building and command and control facilities.

The U.S. military has been launching targeted airstrikes in Iraq since August, focusing specifically on attacks to protect American interests and personnel, assist Iraqi refugees and secure critical infrastructure. Last week, as part of the newly expanded campaign, the U.S. began going after militant targets across Iraq, including enemy fighters, outposts, equipment and weapons.

Urged on by the White House and U.S. defense and military officials, Congress passed legislation late last week authorizing the military to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels. Obama signed the bill into law Friday, providing $500 million for the U.S. to train about 5,000 rebels over the next year.

Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam, Julie Pace, Edith M. Lederer and Matthew Lee in New York, Ryan Lucas in Beirut, Nancy Benac, Deb Riechmann, Lara Jakes and Donna Cassata in Washington, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Robert Burns aboard a U.S. military aircraft contributed to this report.

Obama Gets Boost For Coalition-Building Efforts

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. Obama is in New York for three days of talks with foreign leaders at the annual United Nations General Assembly.

NEW YORK (AP) — For President Barack Obama, the participation of five Arab nations in airstrikes in Syria has shifted the tenor of his three-day diplomatic mission at the United Nations, allowing him to use the unexpected cooperation to mobilize reluctant other nations to join the fight against Islamic State militants.

It's a marked change for a president who has been on the defensive about his ability to form a coalition and who had been expected to show up at the U.N. with few public commitments from allies around the world.

"The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America's fight alone," Obama said at the White House before departing for New York. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain all launched airstrikes alongside U.S. planes, with Qatar playing a supporting role.

Senior administration officials said the coalition was quietly solidified in recent days following Secretary of State John Kerry's flurry of meetings with regional partners and Obama's phone calls to the monarchs of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Obama gave the go-ahead for the Pentagon to launch strikes in Syria for the first time last Thursday after being briefed by military leaders at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

While officials said the timing of the strikes was not intended to coincide with the start of the annual U.N. gathering, the military action quickly became a focal point as Obama and other world leaders arrived in New York.

Obama met Tuesday afternoon with a group that included representatives from the five Arab nations that participated in the overnight strikes. After thanking them for their cooperation, he cautioned that the military foray into Syria "is obviously not the end of the effort but this is the beginning."

Among the leaders who joined in the meeting was new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who took office earlier this month. Obama and al-Abadi will also hold a one-on-one meeting Wednesday. Kathleen Hicks, a former Pentagon official, said the Arab participation could galvanize other nations that have been wary of joining the effort.

"It really helps Europeans and others to see that it's not just going to be perceived as just a Western action," said Hicks, who is now senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

The joint U.S.-Arab airstrikes won Obama rare support from Republicans who have been pressing him to be more aggressive in going after the Islamic State group, which has moved with ease across the blurred border between Iraq and Syria.

"I support the airstrikes launched by the president, understanding that this is just one step in what must be a larger effort to destroy and defeat this terrorist organization," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., concurred, saying, "These strikes against ISIL and the engagement of our regional allies are important steps in defeating ISIL and I support these ongoing efforts." McConnell referred to the Islamic State militants with one of the many names used for group.

The U.S. began launching targeted airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Iraq in August. Following the group's brutal beheading of two American journalists, as well as the formation of the new Iraqi government, Obama pledged to expand the campaign — but only as part of a broad coalition.

However, before this week, there were few countries that had made specific military commitments. France has joined the U.S. in launching airstrikes in Iraq, and Saudi Arabia volunteered to host U.S.-led training missions for Syrian rebels.

Even with the actions from Arab nations, the U.S. is seeking to rally other partners for future cooperation, particularly Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO member. Turkish officials have resisted joining the coalition, citing the safety of 49 hostages that had been held by the Islamic State group.

But with the hostages released last weekend under unspecified terms, that seemed to be changing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also in New York for the U.N. meetings, said Tuesday he was considering expanding support for Western and Arab operations against the Islamic State group to include military involvement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected a more robust role for Turkey. And Erdogan said later, according to Turkey's DHA news agency, "Of course, we will do our part. God willing, we will also discuss it together with our government."

"Nations like Turkey have their own clear, vested personal interest in confronting the threat that's posed by ISIL," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "All of the mayhem and havoc that ISIL is wreaking in Iraq and in Syria is right on Turkey's doorstep. And it's certainly not in their interest for all that instability and violence to be occurring so close to their border."

The president will also chair an unusual U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday at which members are expected to adopt a resolution that would require all countries to prevent the recruitment and transport of would-be foreign fighters preparing to join terrorist groups such as the Islamic State. However, Obama administration officials have acknowledged that U.N. resolutions can be notoriously difficult to enforce.

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Syrian Refugees In Turkey Reach 150,000

Young Syrian refugees enter Turkey at Yumurtalik crossing gate near Suruc, Turkey, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. More than 200,000 people fleeing the Islamic militants’ advance on Kobani, Syria, arrived in Turkey during last four days to find safety.

SURUC, TURKEY (AP) — Refugees streaming into Turkey from Syria say their home city, once bustling with 400,000 citizens, has become a ghost town, emptied of all people but a few thousand fighters trying to hold off an onslaught by Islamic militants.

The masses fleeing the brutal offensive by the Islamic State group on the city of Kobani, looming just across the border from Turkey, are part of a wave that has reached 150,000 people since Thursday. Turkey had taken in well over a million Syrian refugees from the 3 ½-year-old conflict already before the latest wave, but this influx is the largest yet, according to the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR.

Arriving weary in Turkey Tuesday — some walking, some limping, some on stretchers — the refugees brought with them stories explaining why so few remain behind in the besieged city. Osman Nawaf, 59, said that he saw about fifty dead bodies hanging headless in a village called Boras that he passed on his three-day walk from a village on the outskirts of Kobani.

Leyla Kuno, a 55-year-old mother of 10 children, said only the fighters remain in the city. "I came today only because there is no one inside our city," she said. Kurdish forces trying to fend off the Islamic State on Tuesday expressed hopes that the airstrikes carried out by the United States and five Arab countries against the militants might provide yet provide relief.

Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, said airstrikes targeting the Islamic militants would "help" his party's armed wing in Syria. But fighters staring out at the militants in Kobani said they have seen no let-up so far.

The U.S. and five Arab nations attacked the Islamic State group's headquarters in eastern Syria in nighttime raids using land- and sea-based U.S. aircraft as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from two Navy ships in the Red Sea and the northern Persian Gulf.

But the bombs did not fall on Islamic State group positions near Kobani. One Kurdish fighter protecting the city, reached by phone near the front line, said that the airstrikes had yet to diminish his enemies' attack, but said that he hoped that it would eventually hinder resupply of heavy weaponry.

It was not immediately clear why the U.S. and allies did not hit the forces besieging Kobani, given the magnitude and urgency of the humanitarian disaster the militants are causing. Selin Unal, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, which has been assisting the Turkish government in caring for the refugees, called the migration in the last few days: "Probably the biggest wave in the region over a short period, and certainly the biggest for Turkey."

She said that the needs for the refugees were so huge that her organization was considering airlifting in supplies from other countries. She praised Turkey's efforts and pleaded for help from abroad, noting that despite taking in the largest number of refugees in the region, Turkey has been receiving less support from abroad than neighboring countries coping with refugees.

Late Tuesday, the European Union said it would increase its aid to refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria by 215 million euros ($280 million). Among other things, the funding would go toward helping those seeking refuge in Turkey over the past few days, it said.

Many of the refugees at an intake center manned by the Turkish relief agency, AFAD, noted that the fighters are protecting their homes and expressed hopes they would be able to resume their lives in Kobani soon.

Many also expressed reluctance about coming to Turkey. Hussain Mohamed Ibn Mustafa, a middle-aged fighter, who had escorted his family across the border to visit a sick brother in a Turkish hospital, said that life had been good in Kobani until this last week and that his family now dreaded life across the border.

"We are like prisoners here," he said. But he said he would go back soon to fight, noting that Kobani is a strategic town for the control of the Syrian Kurdish region. "If we lose Kobani it means we have lost Kurdistan," he said.

The developments across the border are also flaring tensions in Turkey. Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of a Kurdish rebel group fighting Turkey for autonomy has now called for a mass mobilization of all Kurds against the Islamic State group.

Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island near Istanbul, leads the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has long fought Turkey for autonomy and is affiliated with Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party.

The call could raise tensions at the border where Kurds have clashed with Turkish security forces. Near the frontier, hundreds of Kurds from Turkey have fought with Turkish police firing tear gas and water cannons. The Kurds say Turkey is hampering their efforts to enter Syria and help their brethren.

The area around Turkey's border town of Suruc was heavily militarized on Tuesday with armored vehicles, though clashes had subsided.

Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Mohammed Rasool in Suruc contributed to this report.

Desmond Butler can be followed on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/desmondbutler

Sculpture Of End=Of-WWII Kiss Lands In Normandy

Workers hoist and lock together pieces of "Unconditional Surrender," an 8-meter (25-foot) cast-bronze sculpture in color of a sailor and a nurse in lip-locked embrace, outside the Caen Memorial in Normandy, France, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. The sculpture by Seward Johnson is based on a U.S. Navy photographer’s black-and-white snapshot taken on Aug. 15, 1945, according to the Sculpture Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit that owns the work. It also resembles a famous photograph taken by Life magazine Alfred Eisenstaedt on that day. The sculpture is to spend a year outside the Caen Memorial, a museum focusing on World War II.

CAEN, FRANCE (AP) — A sculpture honoring a photograph of a kiss in Times Square that captured New York's celebration as World War II ended has gone up in Normandy for a one-year visit.

Cranes and construction crews in the French city of Caen on Tuesday hoisted and locked together pieces of "Unconditional Surrender," an 8-meter (25-foot) cast-bronze sculpture in color of a sailor and a nurse in a lip-locked embrace.

The sculpture by Seward Johnson is based on a U.S. Navy photographer's black-and-white snapshot taken Aug. 15, 1945, according to the Sculpture Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit that owns the work. It also resembles a famous photo taken by Life magazine's Alfred Eisenstaedt on that day.

The sculpture is to spend a year outside the Caen Memorial, a museum focusing on World War II.

Algerian Troops Search For Kidnapped Frenchman

Soldiers patrol at the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014.

ALGIERS, ALGERIA (AP) — Algerian police and soldiers combed the imposing Djura Djura mountains on Tuesday searching for a kidnapped Frenchman that a security official said had been snatched by a former al-Qaida commander.

Residents described roads choked with military trucks and helicopters clattering overhead as security forces fanned out through the rugged region that has long been a hotbed for extremist groups. In a video posted Monday, the group calling itself the Jund al-Khilafah said it would kill Herve Gourdel in 24 hours unless France ended its participation in airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, French President Francois Hollande said he had "plenty of confidence" in Algerian security forces that "everything will be done so that we can recover our compatriot."

He said France was acting against terrorism in the face of threats. "As grave as the situation is, we will give in to no blackmail, no pressure, no ultimatum," he said. "No terrorist group can in any way influence France's position, will, and freedom."

"I repeat it here ... we will continue to provide our support to the Iraqi authorities," said Hollande. That would include weapons deliveries to those fighting the Islamic State group and continued air support for Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga forces, he said.

French forces on Friday joined the U.S. in carrying out airstrikes against extremists who have overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq. An Algerian security official said the new group had split away from al-Qaida's North Africa branch just two weeks ago and declared allegiance to the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq — a rival of al-Qaida.

The new Algerian group is led by 36-year-old Abdelmalek Gouri, also known as Khaled Abu Slimane, a veteran al-Qaida commander from the central region behind a series of bloody attacks on Algerian soldiers, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Herve Gourdel, a mountaineering guide from Nice, was taken Sunday night while driving through the Djura Djura mountains in Algeria's rugged Kabylie region, which remains one of the last active areas of operation for al-Qaida in Algeria.

He was taken with four Algerian companions who were later released. At least 14 soldiers were killed in April close to where Gourdel was kidnapped when they were ambushed by militants in an operation led by Gouri, according to the official.

Residents told The Associated Press that security has been deteriorating in the area for the last few days. Majid Benhamich, a local guard from the village of Akbil, said he was constantly being called up to help the army in its operations.

"There are frequent sightings of terrorists in the mountains and I hear there are some of foreign nationalities," he said, describing the area as still dangerous. Laifa Bessadi, a resident of Ait Allaoua village just 6 miles (10 kilometers) from where Gourdel was kidnapped, said the roads are filled with military trucks and there are helicopters in the sky. Everyone in his village has been ordered to stay at home.

"Last night, we heard gunshots in the night and this morning we saw helicopters firing but we don't know what at," he said. Algeria has been fighting Islamic extremists since the 1990s and in recent years they had been largely confined to a few mountainous areas, such as the Kabylie region, where they have concentrated on attacking soldiers and police while leaving civilians alone.

While the al-Qaida's branch in the Sahara has made millions off kidnapping foreign hostages, it has rarely killed them as the Islamic State group has now done with the two Americans and Briton it held.

Djallil Lounnas, an expert on Islamic movements in North Africa said the emergence of a group claiming loyalty to the Islamic State, a rival of al-Qaida, suggests that Abdelmalek Droukdel, the leader of the North Africa branch is losing control of his men.

He said more attacks are to be expected as the new group tries to make a name for itself. The U.S. embassy in Algiers renewed its travel warning for Algeria Tuesday, urging Americans traveling there to "exercise vigilance" in their movements.

Associated Press reporter Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.