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Saturday, September 13, 2014

Kerry Building Coalition To Defeat ISIS. Will It Work?

Islamic State crisis: Kerry in Paris to continue campaign

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt - 13 September 2014John Kerry has managed to secure the support of 10 Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar
US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Paris after a four-day tour of the Middle East trying to build a coalition to defeat Islamic State (IS).
Nearly 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a US-led plan to tackle the extremist group.
France is hosting a regional security summit on Monday.
However, the US refused to allow key regional player Iran to attend, prompting Tehran to dismiss the talks as "just for show".
Last week, US President Barack Obama presented a strategy to fight IS in both Iraq and Syria.
Barbara Plett-Usher says Egypt and the US are united against a common threat
IS controls large parts of both countries and the CIA estimates that the group could have as many as 30,000 fighters in the region.
US air strikes have targeted IS in Iraq in recent weeks and President Obama has vowed to "hunt down" the group after it beheaded two American journalists.
Late on Saturday a video was also released appearing to show the beheading of UK hostage David Haines.
Mr Kerry arrived at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris after flying from Cairo, where he met Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.
He said that Egypt was "on the frontline of the fight against terrorism" and had a "critical role to play in publicly renouncing the ideology that IS disseminates".
Members of a Shia militia launch rockets towards Islamic State fighters during heavy fighting near Tikrit in northern Iraq - 12 September 2014Iraqi forces are fighting alongside Kurdish fighters and Shia militias against Islamic State in northern Iraq
Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, line up to receive food at a refugee camp - 13 September 2014The violence in Iraq in recent months is thought to have displaced an estimated 1.2 million people
On Monday, French President Francois Hollande will welcome diplomats from up to 20 countries for a conference on Iraqi security.
The talks come ahead of a UN Security Council meeting next week and a heads of state meeting at the UN General Assembly later this month.
Iran unimpressed
One country not attending is Iran, which voiced its unhappiness at not being on the "selective guest list" by dismissing the talks as "just for show".

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America seeks to emerge as a Hollywood-style hero battling a crisis of its own making”
Admiral Ali ShamkhaniSenior Iranian official
"What would interest Iran is a real fight against terrorism in the region and around the world, not this selective one," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told state television.
On Friday, Mr Kerry said the US would not be seeking the involvement of Iran in its coalition because of its "engagement in Syria and elsewhere".
Iran has backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, while the US and several European and Gulf countries have supported the rebel factions fighting to overthrow him.
The US stance was attacked in Iran, with one senior official accusing the US of playing a "central role" in "arming and training terrorist groups to topple the legal Syrian government".
"In taking a big jump ahead of international bodies, America seeks to emerge as a Hollywood-style hero battling a crisis of its own making," Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA.
Iraq air strikes
In recent months IS has expanded from its stronghold in eastern Syria and seized control of more towns, cities, army bases and weaponry in Iraq.
The US has already carried out more than 150 air strikes in northern Iraq. It has also sent hundreds of military advisers to assist Iraqi government and Kurdish forces, but has ruled out sending ground troops.
Syria and its ally Russia have warned that any unilateral US military action on Syrian territory would be a violation of its sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered his forces to halt their air strikes on civilian areas under IS control on Saturday.
Correspondents say this is probably an attempt by Mr Abadi to win support for his Shia-led government from Sunni Muslims who had demanded a freeze on military action on civilian areas.
The violence in Iraq in recent months is thought to have displaced an estimated 1.2 million people.
Graphic of US air strikes on Iraq and Islamic State attacks


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