Kerry and the Gulf seek tougher measures to fight militancy in the region

Saudi King Abdullah has instructed authorities in the kingdom to take all "necessary measures" to defend the country from militants battling the government in neighbouring Iraq.

The Thursday announcement comes days after Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants seized the border crossing from Iraq into Jordan, creating alarm in Amman and beyond. It also comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry held urgent talks with Gulf allies in Paris to address the widening crisis in Iraq, where Sunni Islamic militant, including ISIL, have seized a swathe of territory.  

In his meeting with regional Sunni monarchies, including Jordan and the UAE, Kerry tried to drive home "the shared threat they all face from ISIL," a senior State Department official said. 

While some have previously criticised the rich Gulf States for their underhanded support of extremism, growing fear of spillover from Iraq and Syria has led to a new diligence in recent months. 

In his statement Abdullah ordered authorities "to take all the necessary measures to protect [...] the kingdom's security against actions that could be taken by terrorist or other groups."

The measures were not spelled out, but decided during a security cabinet meeting chaired by the king and devoted to discussing developments in Iraq. 

Kerry will fly to Saudi Arabia on Friday where he is expected to continue talks about the ongoing turbulence in the Middle East. 

Iraq crisis blowback 

Kerry's Paris talks come only a day after Kerry addressed world leaders in Brussels during a NATO meeting dominated by the Iraq crisis. 

He is believed to have briefed his counterparts on his visit earlier this week to Baghdad and Erbil, in northern Iraq, where he sought to persuade fractious Iraqi leaders to unify to save the country, which risks being torn apart following the violence that erupted in early June. 

The US has signalled that it wants a new government in Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been unable to reconcile with the nation's Sunni minority and stabilise the political landscape.

"There needs to be a recognition of the seriousness of the threat, and that everybody should be working together to encourage all the parties in Iraq to move towards that political resolution," the State Department official said.

In a statement at the start of the Paris talks, Kerry stressed that there also needed to be more regional, as well as internal, cooperation to combat the Iraq crisis. 

"Iraq, obviously, is one of the predominant points, the move of ISIL concerns every single country here," Kerry warned.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal agreed, adding that "all these issues... are of immense importance for our countries."

"And I think with the cooperation between the countries we can affect hopefully the situation in the Middle East.

Oil rich Saudi Arabia has been engaged in a war of words with Maliki in recent weeks, and has accused him of fuelling the crisis by marginalising the country's Sunni Arab minority and “incited sectarianism” in Iraq. Maliki has responded by accusing Saudi authorities of financing and supporting terrorism. 

Saudi nationals are believed to make up a high percentage of militants who fight with groups like al-Qaeda or ISIL. A Saudi national blew himself up in Lebanon at Beirut's Duroy Hotel on Wednesday after security forces stormed his room as part of a wider crackdown. The suicide bomber killed himself and wounded 10 other people, a senior Lebanese official said.

A Saudi accomplice of the suicide bomber was wounded in the blast at the four-star establishment mainly frequented by Gulf tourists, and has been detained.