Canberra mulls US call to bomb IS
Australia is considering a US request to launch airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria in an unprecedented departure from Australian foreign policy that could spark political disputes.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday that his government had received a request from the Pentagon to send Australia's six F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters based in Dubai into Syria to attack the militants in their stronghold.
The warplanes have been striking Islamic State targets in northern Iraq since October of last year.
But Australia has balked at involvement in the war in Syria without the firm legal basis of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
Abbott said the government had yet to decide on the request, although it is thought the United States does not make such official requests without first gaining an undertaking that they will succeed.
"While there is a little difference between the great ties of airstrikes on either side of the border, there's no difference in the morality," Abbott told reporters.
"In the end, when they don't respect the border, the question is: why should we?" he said, referring to Islamic State militants who have declared a caliphate that straddles the Iraq-Syria border.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said he would press Abbott about the legality of an Australian combat involvement next week.
"We will be seeking an explanation of the legal basis upon the proposition which the United States has asked us - is it legal, what the United States has asked us to do?" Shorten told reporters.
The government can send fighter jets into Syria without seeking Parliament's permission, although a political squabble could damage public support.
The United States along with its Middle Eastern allies Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have been striking targets in Syria for months.
(China Daily 08/22/2015 page11)
