ublished on Sep 24, 2014 1:13 AM
RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) - It has been more than 23 years since Arab countries last made common cause to join U.S.-led military action, and it has taken the threat of ISIS to persuade them that any public backlash in an already turbulent region is a price worth paying.
Of the five Arab states named by Washington as supporting U.S.-led strikes against the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and finally even Saudi Arabia, confirmed they had actually flown sorties. Qatar was believed to have offered only logistical or political support.
But association with the attacks, after years of U.S.-led wars that have antagonised Muslims around the world, is a risk these states are ready to run to quash a group that promises to refashion the Middle East as an Islamic caliphate.
"We see Islamic State (ISIS) as an existential threat. If we don't put a stop to it, it will expand into our area," said Sami al-Faraj, an adviser to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
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