London (Alliance News) - Islamic State's momentum in Iraq and Syria has
been halted and half its leadership killed along with thousands of its
fighters, US Secretary John Kerry said Thursday.
"Ground forces supported by nearly 2,000 airstrikes now have reclaimed
more than 700 square kilometres," he said at talks in London convened for
ministers from more than 20 countries to thrash out strategies to thwart the
jihadi insurgents.
The US ambassador to Iraq told broadcaster Al Arabiya Thursday the
airstrikes had killed 6,000 militants, but US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel,
speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon, did not verify that figure.
Islamic State, an al-Qaeda splinter group, still controls large swathes
of territory in the Sunni heartland in western and northern Iraq as well as
neighbouring Syria.
Kerry said training camps were being opened in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and
Qatar for Syria's anti-Islamic State fighters.
Kerry, who co-chaired the meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip
Hammond, was flanked by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at a press
conference closing the one-day gathering.
His warning that the campaign would be "neither short nor
easy" was echoed by Hammond, who admitted that the Iraqi armed forces were
in "disarray" despite massive funding during and after the US-led
invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
No comments:
Post a Comment