NATO Member States are expected to formally join a US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant armed group in Syria and Iraq.
The decision by the North Atlantic Council, the highest decision-making body within NATO, is expected to be officially announced at a meeting of the alliance’s leaders today.
It comes on the back of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has urged NATO members to do more in the fight against ISIL.
NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that many allies would like to see NATO as a full member of the coalition because it sends a strong message of unity. He added that in light of Monday’s attack in Manchester, it is important to send this message of unity against terrorism.
At the Brussels meeting today, Trump is also expected to urge NATO members to increase defence spending to the target of two percent of a country’s annual gross domestic product, as they agreed in 2014.
