France plans military meeting on Islamic State, says group retreating
January 14, 2016
ricky l22 seconds ago
Great that the Iraq efforts against ISIS daesh are seeing very good result and they are retreating, efforts must be made to prevent ISIS daesh from retreating into Syria via North-West part into Syria Raqqa and provide ISIS daesh the opportunity to consolidate their forces in Syria.
Must guard the border between Iraq and Syria - especially the west border of Iraq.
Fighting ISIS daesh in Syria is much harder - as there are many opposing forces fighting among themselves unlike Iraq where all factional forces are united to defeat ISIS daesh.
ricky l1 second ago
The impetus to defeat ISIS daesh in Iraq and Syria - is getting more important - as ISIS daesh is running wild all over the World - with now Indonesia got hit after Paris.
By fully eradicating and neutralising ISIS daesh in Iraq and Syria - ISIS daesh will have no bases to plan and plot their terrorism activities overseas.
Just wonder how is the battle with ISIS daesh in Syria - did not hear any major battlefield success in Syria unlike Iraq.
ricky l42 seconds ago
To ensure more battle success in Syria - to deprive ISIS daesh with base to plot terrorism overseas - the like of Paris, Istanbul, Jakarta ---- more military pressure should be asserted in Syria.
It did not help if :-
(1) Arab coalition and rebel groups is not working well with Assad troops to unite against fight with ISIS daesh.
(2) Russia and Assad troops are targeting other rebel groups instead of concentrating on ISIS daesh.
(3) Russia is not working with Turkey - against the fight against ISIS daesh.
(4) US coalition and Russia coalition - is not working together and coordinate together - in the fight against ISIS daesh.
To ensure more battle success in Syria - to deprive ISIS daesh with base to plot terrorism overseas - the like of Paris, Istanbul, Jakarta ---- more military pressure should be asserted in Syria.
Iraq fight against ISIS daesh is much more successful - because all the factional forces are united in battling ISIS daesh as One - whether Iraqi troops, Arab militia, Kurds, Shiite militia - supported by US Coalition airstrike.
Conversely, in Syria - everyone is fighting against one another - and half-hearted battle with ISIS daesh. Of course ISIS daesh will have a field day - plotting bombs attack in Istanbul, gunfight and bomb in Paris and Indonesia, bomb attack in Saudi, bomb attack of Russia plane, gun attack in US etc.
To successfully defeat ISIS daesh in Syria - Arabs vs Assad, US vs Russia, Turkey vs Russia, Arab Rebel Groups vs Syria troop ----- all need to sit down, drink coffee and talk - and reconcile - if ISIS daesh in Syria to be defeated - like what is happening in Iraq.
Else, ISIS daesh will continue to be a de-facto caliphate base in Syria ---- and both coalition cannot take back the land from ISIS daesh - and this caliphate base will continue to plot and plan bomb attack, gun fight all over the World.
ricky l1 second ago
Members of US-led coalition forces meeting in Paris ---- must always remember ---- the Russia-led coalition forces and Assad group must not be ignored ====== in the battle of Syria against ISIS daesh.
Without the cooperation of either coalitions ---- the fight with ISIS daesh in Syria will not succeed.
ricky l1 second ago
Divinity can only treat the Heart and the Mind - if different factional forces in Syria want to be treated.
Only when the Heart and Mind want to be treated ---- will there be determination and motivation to fight the ISIS daesh in Syria.
Defence ministers meet in Paris on anti-IS fight
ReplyDeleteThe French and US defence ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Ashton Carter, hosted the meeting attended by their Australian, British, Dutch, German and Italian counterparts.
· Posted 20 Jan 2016 22:14
· Updated 20 Jan 2016 22:15
PARIS: The defence ministers of seven countries leading the battle against the Islamic State group met in Paris on Wednesday (Jan 20) to review strategy as the militants spread their influence around the globe.
The French and US defence ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Ashton Carter, hosted the meeting attended by their Australian, British, Dutch, German and Italian counterparts.
British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said it would look at ways to "capitalise on the setbacks that Daesh (an alternative name for IS) has suffered in Iraq and tighten the noose around the head of the snake in Syria."
But the coalition must also face up to the spread of IS around the world, notably in Libya where political chaos has allowed the group to build a 3,000-strong force.
Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was not invited to Wednesday's meeting, though US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Zurich at the same time to discuss Syria.
Moscow's air campaign, which it claims is targeted against IS, has been criticised for focusing on the moderate opposition to Assad.
"I'm increasingly disturbed by the Russian bombing," Fallon told reporters in Paris.
"We've had estimates of several hundred civilians killed now through the use of unguided munitions in civilian areas, clearly aimed at opposition groups that are fighting Assad, and that I deplore," he added.
IS has seen some setbacks, losing around a quarter of its self-proclaimed caliphate, including the Iraqi city of Ramadi to US-backed local forces last month.
Washington this week claimed to have leaked IS documents showing the group had cut fighters' pay by half since the coalition stepped up bombing of oil production, a key source of revenue for the group.
A LACK OF GROUND FORCES
But the coalition faces major challenges, particularly the lack of ground forces willing to fight IS in Syria, since most groups are focused on toppling Assad.
IS showed its continued threat this week, taking 400 people hostage when it attacked the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor. Some 270 have since been released.
"The sooner the civil war is brought to an end the better, and then we can all focus on the enemy that is Daesh," Fallon said.
"That is going to take time, we don't have what's available in Iraq. We don't have a New Model Army standing around the walls of Raqa waiting to move in. But that shouldn't delay us in doing what we can from the air."
UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are tentatively set for next Monday in Geneva, but the main parties have yet to agree on who will represent the Syrian opposition.
Carter has repeatedly urged other countries in the approximately 60-member coalition to step up their participation in the military effort, particularly Arab and Gulf countries that are more focused on fighting Iran-backed forces in Yemen.
In a rare admission, the French army's operations chief, General Didier Castre, recently recognised that the coalition's military strategy was having trouble "producing speedy results".
Libya will be discussed at Wednesday's meeting, but no concrete proposals are on the table, a US military source said.
US, Australian and French instructors have already trained
But Western forces remain reluctant to get too deeply involved, fearing a repeat of the quagmire of previous campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Australia has already ruled out any increase to its military contribution, and Canada was pointedly absent from Wednesday's meeting after its new government said it would pull out of the bombing campaign.
- AFP/ec