Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was not invited to the meeting, though US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Zurich at the same time to discuss Syria.
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Carter is in Paris to meet with a handful of key coalition countries battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as they map out plans for the coming year’s fight.
“We agreed we all must do more”, he said. The two spoke at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at France’s version of the Pentagon, the Hexagone-Balard.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said it was vital that the coaition stepped up its efforts against IS, which has suffered a number of setbacks in recent months.
“Turkey occupies a key position in the coalition – it is hosting aircraft and making other contributions”, Carter told reporters in Paris, where he has been meeting defence ministers from several countries involved in the anti-IS coalition.
“They were truly galvanized, as numerous Europeans were, by the attacks in Paris”.
Speaking after talks in Paris, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said the coalition’s main aim was to crush what he called the IS “tumour” in Iraq and Syria by “collapsing its two power centres in Raqa and Mosul”.
Carter said U.S.-led coalition forces have “big arrows” pointed at reclaiming Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in northern Syria, the self-proclaimed capital of the religious caliphate that Islamic State has declared.
“I’ll be soliciting their views and describing to them my thoughts about how we can accelerate the campaign, including the variety of capabilities, military capabilities, that will be required”, Carter said, predicting increases in the numbers of trainers in the months ahead, including of police who can help hold territory seized from Islamic State.
“That’s already being done in Ramadi”.
The US is committed to that support, Carter said.
Syria’s largest opposition coalition on Wednesday picked Islamist rebel chief Mohammed Alloush, who has the support of Saudi Arabia, but it has demanded the exclusion of other parties, including Kurdish fighters who have been one of the most capable forces against IS. “It’s simply to get more ideas for how we can do more, by including others more strongly in the military campaign”.
The exclusion of Canada from the meeting was front-page news there on Tuesday. That stretch remains a crossing point for Islamic State fighters, black-market smugglers and war material.
According to the monitoring group, IS released a statement saying: “Because of the exceptional circumstances that the Islamic State is passing through, a decision was taken to cut the salaries of the mujahedeen in half”. The minister added that French jets had targeted Daesh command and transmission centers in Mosul since Sunday.
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The multipronged effort includes not only talking up military victories in Iraq and Syria, but also countering jihadi messaging that can recruit or inspire followers around the world to join the group or launch their own solo attacks in western nations.
