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Old 22-01-15, 16:25   #70
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Update re: VIDEOs- ISIS Burnt Hostage Alive-Jordan & Japan's Revenge Attacks

BBC, 22 January 2015

Islamic State Conflict: London, UK, Hosts Coalition Talks



Foreign ministers from 21 countries are meeting in London to discuss ways to co-ordinate their efforts to combat the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
IS controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq and the US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes since August.



But UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond insisted much more needed to be done.
He told the BBC that the countries wanted to find ways to halt the flow of recruits to IS, cut off its funding and "tackle the underlying narrative".
They will also look at providing more military assistance to those fighting IS on the ground, and more humanitarian aid to its victims.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says the recent attacks by Islamist militants in France have put even greater political pressure on governments to show decisive results.

'Greater Resolve'


At the start of Thursday's conference at Lancaster House, which he is co-hosting with Mr Hammond, US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters: "We still have a lot of work to do."
"The purpose of coming here is to bring everybody's best advice, everybody's thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody's thoughts about things we can do better, put that together and lay down the strategy for the days ahead."




Coalition air strikes have targeted IS positions in Syria and in Iraq



Quote:
"They are the most brutal and most dangerous enemy I have ever seen in my life”





But fighters on the ground, including members of the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga, say they need more support


A senior US state department official said foreign fighters would be the "real focus" of the London conference, and that an expert working group would be formed to discuss sharing information to stop them travelling.
The European police agency, Europol, estimates that up to 5,000 EU citizens have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight. Thousands of others have travelled from Arab and Muslim states.






Looking back at the past five months, Mr Hammond said the coalition's strategy had arrested the momentum of Islamic State, whose advance across Iraq began in June when it routed several army divisions and captured the northern city of Mosul.

"The engagement of the coalition and the beginning of air strikes against [IS] positions halted that advance and in some cases it has begun to turn it back," he told the BBC.

The state department official said IS had "gone from a force that was very much capable militarily to conduct fairly large-scale offensive operations to a force that is now digging in for defensive operations".







IS still controls many cities and major towns in northern and western Iraq. However, Iranian-backed Shia militia have begun advancing northwards from Baghdad, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north-east have retaken the Mosul dam and the town of Sinjar.

In Syria, air strikes have failed to dislodge IS from its stronghold of Raqqa or stop the group from expanding its control in neighbouring areas. However, it has been unable to capture the town of Kobane after facing fierce resistance from Kurdish fighters backed by coalition aircraft.

Mr Hammond warned that there was "a big job ahead" in Iraq. "We are building the Iraqi security forces from a state of disarray and poor training and poor leadership... for what will need to be a sustained offensive against [IS] forces on the ground."
"It will be months yet before they are ready to start significant combat operations."





Speaking in Iraq before flying to London, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the international community needed to do more to train and equip ground forces.

In Syria, the US and its Western allies are relying on "moderate" rebels to take the fight to IS, and are reluctant to co-operate with President Bashar al-Assad, who they want out of power.

The countries taking part in the conference along with the UK and US are Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy,Jordan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.



Quote:
What is Islamic State (IS) ?

Formed out of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2013, IS first captured Raqqa in eastern Syria

It captured broad swathes of Iraq in June, including Mosul, and declared a "caliphate" in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq

Pursuing an extreme form of Sunni Islam, IS has persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shia Muslims, whom it regards as heretics

Known for its brutal tactics, including beheadings of soldiers, Western journalists and aid workers

The CIA says the group could have as many as 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria
MORE:
Coalition Needs 2 Years to Expel Islamic State From Iraq, says UK


LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Anti-IS Coalition could take up to two years to expel Islamic State from Iraq, and Baghdad's own forces will be incapable of proper combat operations for months, Britain's foreign minister warned on Thursday.


Speaking before he hosted a meeting of 21 coalition members in London, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the task of pushing the Islamist militants back would be slow.

"This isn't going to be done in three months or six months. It's going to take a year, two years to push ISIL (IS) back out of Iraq but we are doing the things that need to be done in order to turn the tide," Hammond told Sky News.

Thursday's meeting, attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, will examine ways of intensifying the campaign against IS in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere by doing more militarily, more to cut off the group's finances and more to stem the flow of foreign fighters. Kerry said before the meeting it was a vital opportunity to adjust the coalition's strategy.

"The purpose of coming here is to bring everybody's best advice, everybody's thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody's thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operations, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead," he said.

Iraq's Abadi, who will tell delegates how his government's fight against IS is progressing, met British Prime Minister David Cameron beforehand and asked for more military training and ammunition.
KURDS CLAIM VICTORIES

Britain has taken part in air strikes against IS forces, trained Iraqi troops, and provided some equipment already.
Cameron told Abadi that Britain was ready to help, but stopped short of making any new commitments.

"The threat from extremist terror you face in Iraq is also a threat we face here in the United Kingdom," he said. "We will do everything we can to help stop foreign fighters coming to your country and creating the mayhem we see today."

The meeting is taking place a day after Kurdish forces in northern Iraq said they had cleared IS insurgents from nearly 500 sq km of territory and broken a key IS supply line between the city of Mosul and strongholds to the west.
Hammond said Thursday's meeting would take stock of coalition progress in the last five months and hear an update from U.S. General John Allen.
He praised Iraqi forces, saying the coalition was helping rebuild them so they could launch a sustained ground offensive against IS. But he warned it was a long process.

"It will be months yet before they are ready to start significant combat operations," Hammond told BBC Radio.
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