Roundup: Australia to permanently take 12,000 Syrian refugees, bomb IS in Syria

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Wednesday that Australia will permanently resettle 12,000 refugees from war-torn Syria - one of its largest single intakes since World War II - and will expand its bombing mission against Islamic State forces into Syria "within days."

Making the announcement after a coalition party room meeting, Abbott said Australia would accept 12,000 refugees from " persecuted minorities" on top of Australia's annual commitment to take in 13,750 refugees from around the world.

Abbott said this was a carefully considered and "generous" number that Australia could handle.

"Australia will resettle an additional 12,000 refugees from the Syria/Iraq conflict," Abbott announced at a media conference on Wednesday.

"These will be permanent resettlement places over and above Australia's existing humanitarian program of 13,750 this year, which rises to 18,750 in 2018-19, the prime minister said, adding, "This is a very significant increase in Australia's humanitarian intake and is a generous response to the current emergency."

Abbott stressed, "Our focus for these new, 12,000 resettlement places will be those most in need of permanent protection ... women, children and families from persecuted minorities who have sought temporary refuge in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey ... the most vulnerable of all."

Abbott said while he would like the resettlement to occur "as quickly as possible," background checks would be taking place.

The decision is in stark contrast to the prime minister's position from Sunday, when he said Australia would only increase the percentage of Syrian refugees within the existing 13,750 quota.

At the same press conference, the government also announced it would allocate 30.1 million U.S. dollars to aid agencies working in the Middle East just a day after the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) slammed Australia for its lack of contributions in 2015.

"The government is also announcing that we will directly pay for the support of 240,000 displaced people in countries neighboring Syria and Iraq through the UNHCR and other agencies," Abbott told the media.

"This additional direct assistance will deliver food and blankets and other emergency supplies for the coming winter and is expected to cost 30.1 million (U.S.) dollars."

Meanwhile the Australian government has also signed off on expanding air force operations into Syria.

The prime minister confirmed that Australia's national security committee had rubber-stamped the Royal Australian Air Force's ( RAAF) expansion into Syria, saying operation could begin "within days."

Australia already runs bombing mission against Islamic State forces in Iraq, but Abbott said it was time to defeat Islamic State at its source in Syria.

"There can be no stability in the Middle East until the Daesh death cult is degraded and destroyed. That's what our armed forces are doing in Iraq and we need to do that in Syria too," Abbott said.

"We cannot defeat Daesh in Iraq unless we defeat Daesh in Syria. "

However Abbott said the RAAF would not be targeting the Bashar al-Assad regime.

"I emphasize that our aircraft will be targeting Daesh, not the Assad regime, evil though it is," the prime minister said.

"Do we want Assad gone? Yes, we do. Do our military operations contribute to that at this time? No, they don't.

"(But) there certainly isn't any reason why Australian air strikes in Syria couldn't start within days." Endi