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Diplomatic push grows against Islamic State group

This undated family handout photo shows British man Alan Henning, currently held hostage by Islamic State (IS) and whose life was threatened in the IS video in which they beheaded David Haines. British officials have dropped efforts to prevent the naming of hostage Alan Henning. Henning is the hostage threatened in the latest Islamic State video, which announced the beheading of hostage David Haines. In the video, Henning is shown briefly on camera and also threatened with death. British officials and Henning’s family had asked the press not to publish his name out of concern for his safety, but that request was dropped Sunday afternoon. Britain's prime minister says Islamic State terrorists pose a "massive" security threat that cannot be ignored. David Cameron says the extremists who beheaded two American journalists and now a British aid worker "are not Muslims, they are monsters." (AP Photo/PA Wire) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES This undated family handout photo shows British man Alan Henning, currently held hostage by Islamic State (IS) and whose life was threatened in the IS video in which they beheaded David Haines. British officials have dropped efforts to prevent the naming of hostage Alan Henning. Henning is the hostage threatened in the latest Islamic State video, which announced the beheading of hostage David Haines. In the video, Henning is shown briefly on camera and also threatened with death. British officials and Henning’s family had asked the press not to publish his name out of concern for his safety, but that request was dropped Sunday afternoon. Britain's prime minister says Islamic State terrorists pose a "massive" security threat that cannot be ignored. David Cameron says the extremists who beheaded two American journalists and now a British aid worker "are not Muslims, they are monsters." (AP Photo/PA Wire) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES

By Associated Press September 15, 2014 1 min read

PARIS (AP) – Reconnaissance planes at the ready, France called together diplomats to come up with a coherent global strategy Monday to combat extremists from the Islamic State group, minus the two countries who share most of Iraq’s borders.

With memories of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq still fresh, the U.S. has so far been alone in carrying out airstrikes and no country has offered ground troops. But French reconnaissance jets were prepared to take off Monday, a French official said.

An American official said several Arab countries had offered to conduct airstrikes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issues.

French President Francois Hollande says: “The terrorist threat is global and the response must be global,”