It comes amid rising expectations of US action following American attacks against the jihadist group in Iraq.
Earlier, Syria said it would co-operate in any international efforts to fight Islamic State militants in the country, after the US suggested it may extend the battle against the group into Syrian territory.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, whose government has been shunned by the West, presented his country as a vital partner in the war against the Islamic State.
IS has seized wide areas of Syria and Iraq.
"Syria, geographically and operationally, is the centre of the international coalition to fight Islamic State," Mr Moualem said in a televised news conference.
"States must come to it if they are serious in combating terrorism," he added.
Asked about the prospect of US air strikes against Islamic State inside Syria, Mr Moualem said his government was ready to cooperate with any country fighting militants.
But he said any air raids mounted without approval would be viewed as hostile acts.
"Anything outside this [co-operation] is considered aggression," he said..........................http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0825/639248-assad-germany/
25/8/14
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The United States is to conduct surveillance flights over Syria but no decision has been taken to attack Islamic militants there...
ReplyDeletePresident Barack Obama authorised the flights to gather intelligence on Islamic State militants.
The White House said that Mr Obama had not made a decision to take additional military action at this time.
Director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma Joshua Landis said the US felt entitled to get involved partly because of the recent killing of the journalist James Foley.
He said, however, that President Obama must be clear about what he intends to do in the long term.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned flights, which it said are due to begin "shortly."
For more than two weeks, US warplanes have carried out a limited air campaign against IS militants in Iraq, with most of the bombing raids conducted near Mosul dam in the country's north...............http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0826/639379-syria/