NEW YORK - Defence chiefs from members of a US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) are meeting near Washington on Tuesday after weeks of air strikes that have failed to stop extremists from making gains in Iraq and Syria.
US President Barack Obama holds talks with his military commanders and defence officials of 20 Western and Middle Eastern countries at Andrews Air Force Base to boost cooperation among a group of allies that has conflicting interests in the region.
As they meet, IS, a Sunni Muslim sectarian militia that is also known as ISIS and ISIL, consolidates gains made around Kobane, a besieged Syrian Kurdish town on Turkey’s border, and in Anbar province of western Iraq, where some 180,000 civilians have fled in recent weeks.
White House officials say defeating IS requires a long-term military and diplomatic effort that will suffer setbacks along the way, but are aware that public support for US intervention in Iraq and Syria will impact next month’s congressional election results.
Critics say Obama is over-dependent on air power, lacks reliable allies on the ground and has no solution to Syria’s civil war.
Republican Senator John McCain has warned that the Islamist force of some 30,000 troops is “winning and we’re not”.
Representatives from Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were expected to attend.
Najat Abdullah, a diplomat at the Kurdistan Regional Government’s office in Washington, told Rudaw that Kurdish envoys have pushed Washington for tougher military action against IS, but will not take part in Tuesday’s meetings.
Talks come amid a growing rift between Washington and its only NATO-ally in the region, Turkey, which faces sustained US pressure to train and equip Syrian fighters and allow coalition aircraft to attack IS from its air base at Incirlik.
“The objective of the meeting that General [Martin] Dempsey put together was to further coordinate and organize countries’ efforts to participate in the coalition,” US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Monday. “They will be working through those specific areas and defining specific contributions that the nations will make.”
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, warned of a wave of 180,000 refugees following an IS advance in Anbar province, and an exodus of some 5,400 Syrians who left Kobane in northern Syria and headed through Turkey to Iraqi Kurdistan.
“The Syrians cite various reasons for moving on from Turkey. These include civil unrest; the high cost of living; difficulties with aid – especially with the looming winter; and family links to people already living in the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” UNHCR said in a statement.
“Another 10,000 to 15,000 people are expected to cross in the coming days.”
