REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PARIS - French President Francois Hollande called on Monday for united international action to tackle the threat from Islamic State (IS) militants as he opened a conference on Iraq bringing together members of a US-led coalition.

The United States this week unveiled an outline plan to fight the Islamist militants simultaneously in Iraq and Syria. It believes it can forge a solid alliance despite hesitancy among some partners and questions over the legality of action, notably in Syria where the militant group has a power base.

"What is the threat?" the French leader said as he opened the one-day meeting of officials from some 30 states in Paris.

"It is global so the response must be global ... Iraq's fight against the terrorists is also our fight. We must commit ourselves together - that is the purpose of this conference," said.

France has said it is ready to join US air strikes in Iraq but says legal and military limitations make it more difficult in Syria, where Islamic State's main powerbase lies. Earlier, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said French aircraft would begin reconnaissance flights over Iraq on Monday.

Foreign ministers from the main European states, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Iraq’s neighbors and Gulf Arab states Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, gathered to discuss political, security and humanitarian aspects of tackling Islamic State. Iran, which is highly influential in its neighbor Iraq, is not attending the conference.

"We wanted a consensus among countries over Iran's attendance, but in the end it was more important to have certain Arab states than Iran," a French diplomat said, signaling that Saudi Arabia had not been keen on Tehran coming.

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