Brussels, 02/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 June, those participating in the ministerial meeting in Paris of the international coalition against Islamic State (IS or Daesh) - including High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini - announced that they will redouble their efforts to fight against IS.
“The Daesh offensives in Ramadi (Iraq) and Palmyra (Syria) underline the need to renew and redouble our collective effort to defeat Daesh”, stated the co-leaders of the meeting, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and US Secretary of State John Kerry in a joint statement.
The coalition partners strongly reasserted “their unity and their commitment to act together as part of a common, multi-dimensional and long-term strategy to weaken and eventually eradicate” Daesh, which is ever trying “to extend its grip to other regions struck by political crises and situations of instability”. In ten months of operations, the coalition has carried out 4,000 air strikes.
The members of the coalition also expressed their support for al-Abadi's response plan for the liberation of Anbar province and for the efforts deployed by the Iraqi government to mobilise and equip the tribal fighters in this province. The coalition members agreed to support these efforts through the intermediary of the Iraqi government.
Before the meeting, al-Abadi underlined “the failure of the international community” in the fight against IS. “As regards the Iraqi support, there are a lot of words but little action on the ground”, he regretted. In his view, Iraq is not helped enough with weapons and munitions. “We haven't received many - virtually none. We shouldn't only have to count on ourselves”, he criticised, adding that he was not asking for weapons. “But please let us buy weapons more easily”, he said, stating that the US sanctions on the Russian weapons that the Iraqis use complicated the issue.
The coalition partners also reiterated the “urgent need to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict in order to deal with the deep-rooted reasons for the expansion of Daesh”. They noted “the Assad regime's inability and lack of resolve” to fight IS effectively.
In addition to the ongoing military campaign, the members of the coalition underlined the need to prevent flows “of foreign terrorist fighters” to Iraq and Syria by blocking sources of IS funding and “by fighting against its criminal ideology and dealing with the associated humanitarian crises”. According to al-Abadi, 60% of IS fighters in Iraq are foreign (our translation throughout). (Camille-Cerise Gessant)