The central government considered whether it had the legal basis for a military strike on Islamic State group militants and concluded it did not, as officials scrambled to seek the release of two Japanese captured in Syria, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.
The briefing document was compiled on Friday at the request of the prime minister's office, shortly before a deadline to pay ransom for the release of the two men. There was no immediate word on their fate after the presumed deadline passed.
The capture of two Japanese in Syria represents an "unacceptable act of terror," the document says. But it concluded the situation did not meet the legal conditions for the dispatch of Japanese forces.