That effort could involve a combination of air power and forces fighting on the ground in Syria, he said.
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Kerry said military assistance wouldn’t mean ground troops or direct fighting for some countries.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has delivered a tough, unambiguous message to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members, including Canada, saying the United States expects them to do more in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
A US official said Kerry was speaking mainly of Syrian ground forces, but it was conceivable troops of other Arab nations could be involved.
There would be further consultations between Turkish and US military authorities to ensure that the border could no longer be used to move “illegally transported oil”, a crucial source of funds for the militants, or “the passage of foreign fighters in one direction or another”, Mr Kerry said.
Kerry said Iraq’s government was briefed in advance of the USA announcement. The force is separate from a previously announced deployment of up to 50 U.S. special operations troops in Syria to coordinate on the ground with US-backed rebels. He said Washington would work with Baghdad on what types of forces deployed, where they go and what types of missions they conduct.
Kerry repeated Obama’s argument from a day ago that no peace in Syria would be possible while its president, Bashar Assad, remained in power. Seeing those dismantled, as happened after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, would be “disastrous”, Kerry said.
The West says Assad must go, but Russian Federation launched its own air strikes on September 30 in support of his government, saying it was going after Islamic State.
“We welcome Russian Federation s engagement in the Syria process”, Kerry said.
He didn’t address whether the US might be willing to bring Russian Federation into its military effort against IS, as some members such as France have been proposing. “Whereas the coalition is focused nearly entirely on ISIL”.
The U.S. has spoken generally of degrading and eventually destroying the group.
Mr Cameron, who faces a crucial vote in parliament later Wednesday about whether to authorize airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria, was taking a “very important step”, Mr Kerry said.
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Mr Kerry also praised efforts by Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain to allow his country to join the United States in carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.
