PM Abe: Japan will not take part in combat like Gulf, Iraq wars

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that Japan would not take part in multilateral combat operations such as the 1990-1991 Gulf War or the U.S.-led 2003 war in Iraq. He was speaking at a news conference after his cabinet adopted a resolution to lift a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a dramatic step away from Japan's post-war pacifism. (Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Ron Popeski)