The United States will present a plan to members of its anti-Daesh coalition, outlining necessary contributions from the member countries to accelerate the defeat of the terrorist group embedded in Syria and Iraq, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said at the counter-Daesh ministerial meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
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“The secretary thanked the deputy crown prince for participating in today’s meeting of coalition defence ministers, and for Saudi Arabia’s decision to increase its military contributions, especially the Kingdom’s offer to expand its role in the air campaign”, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.
The U.S. war plan for fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is created to unseat the extremists in Raqqa and Mosul, which is the group’s main stronghold in northern Iraq.
Carter said he secured “unanimous support for the campaign plan we have designed”, and extensive pledges of additional support.
The man who is heading up a humanitarian task force on Syria following an overnight agreement on a cessation of hostilities within a week, says the deal could provide a “breakthrough” to get aid needed to civilians in the war-torn country.
Carter said some countries whose defence ministers may say during the Brussels meeting that they intend to contribute more will be unable to make formal, specific commitments because their governments require parliamentary approval of such military moves.
As Carter sought support on the military front, Secretary of State John Kerry was in Munich, Germany, trying to find a solution to Syria’s five-year civil war.
Carter said coalition military chiefs, including U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, would meet soon to discuss and evaluate the campaign, and that in mid-March the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Florida would convene a military conference to assess progress. But he also said Russia’s bombing of Western-backed opposition fighters could prolong the civil war that helped give rise to Islamic State.
As a result of the stepped-up efforts, the coalition should see “tangible gains” in the coming weeks, Carter said without elaborating. But he declined to elaborate, saying: “It is too early to talk about such options”.
“It is important that we now act quickly”, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that Nato’s involvement should act to deter traffickers.
The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency cautioned this week that Iraqi forces were unlikely to recapture Mosul this year, despite hopes by Baghdad.
“They are conducting intense airstrikes in and around Aleppo and this has caused an increase in the number of people fleeing the country and more suffering”, he said.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, sometimes referred to in conservative circles as President Ash Carter for dealing with real problems while Obama does puff interviews with YouTube personalities, is now complaining that our coalition partners aren’t stepping up to the fight.
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Asked wheher the Saudis and UAE were already operating in Syria, Carter said: “No. They’ve had kind of liaisons there…” “Targeting that is the greatest way an effect could be had”.
