“I need to make it clear that the solidification of a terrorist state in eastern Syria and northern Iraq would be a calamity for the world, it would be a fiasco for Australia”, he said.
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Fairfax Media asked Defence Minister Kevin Andrews who initiated the discussion about possible Australian air strikes in Syria and whether the US request came without Canberra’s prompting.
“This is a totally detestable development, and the inquiry is whether they don’t regard the outskirt, why would it be advisable for us to?” “This is something which is going to go on for some time, and we have to continue to do our part”, he said.
Mr Wilkie said the US’s involvement in Syria did not provide legal cover for Australia to follow.
“We have a formal request from the Americans to extend our air strikes into Syria”, the Prime Minister told reporters in the Western Australia capital of Perth.
Unlike the Iraqi government, the Syrian government has not invited Australia to operate within its borders.
But Mr Carr backed the action, saying there was a powerful case to be made about Australia carrying out airstrikes across the border.
“We’ve got to deal with it at home, we’ve got to deal with it at source, and that’s why we are considering this US request”, he said.
Labor will be briefed on the matter next week and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, says he has asked for an explanation of the legal basis for any extension of the combat mission.
He said the focus is exclusively on protecting Iraq from Islamic State.
Ms Bishop says the situation is complicated by the non-recognition of the Assad regime in Syria but the US believes that because the border region is effectively “ungoverned space”, it has the legal authority necessary to bomb Islamic State extremists there.
Mr Brownlee said expanding New Zealand’s role was not an option at this stage.
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Former Australian Army general John Cantwell, who led Australia’s forces in Afghanistan, said it was puzzling why the expansion had been sought, because there were few “viable” military targets.
