(MENAFN- Arab Times) Kuwait supports the Iraqi government in its fight against the ISIL and other terrorist groups wreaking havoc in Iraq, said Kuwaiti foreign minister at a meeting here on Tuesday. At the second ministerial meeting for member states of the international coalition in the war against ISIL, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah indicated that Kuwait supported steps taken by Iraq to insure security and stability in the country. Moreover, he said Kuwait backed Iraq's efforts at fighting against ISIL and other terrorist groups.
He welcomed the notion of establishing an assistance fund under the aegis of the UN Development Program to use to bring back security and stability to areas in Iraq liberated from the grip of ISIL and other terrorist groups. He urged the international coalition in Paris to come up with pragmatic plans to confront the threat of ISIL.
The Kuwaiti minister reiterated his country's support of the Iraqi government in its efforts to bring about national reconciliation, laying firm foundations for democracy and national unity, and boosting coexistence among all sectors of the Iraqi society, all under the rule of law. On the situation in Syria, the minister expressed his unease at the continuing acts of terror perpetrated by ISIL and its cohort terrorist groups in that country.
He emphasized the imperative to reach a political solution for Syria in accordance with the Geneva conference addressing that crisis.
The minister said that he harbored hope that the next coalition meeting will take up the issues of the refugees and the protection of historic sites in both Syria and Iraq. Today's coalition meeting started earlier today with representatives from 20 countries to review the strategy of the coalition, led by the US, in the confrontation with ISIL which controls large swaths of Iraq and Syria. Iraq's other allies also pledged support for Baghdad's plan to retake the city of Ramadi from Islamic State jihadists, whose advance Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi described as a "failure" for the global community. The US-led coalition, which has been carrying out air strikes against IS, also called for the "speedy launch" of efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, saying this was crucial to tackle the group rampaging through Syria and Iraq.
But despite a series of battlefield wins by IS, the coalition maintained it had a "winning strategy" and gave its seal of approval to Iraqi plans to claw back territory at crunch strategy talks in Paris. US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, standing in for the hospitalised John Kerry in Paris, hailed Baghdad's strategy as "the right plan both politically and militarily for Iraq at this time." He insisted the coalition had made "real gains" and said the Islamic State now had 25 percent less territory than when the air strikes began in August. Experts say the militant group now controls an area the size of Italy across Syria and Iraq.
Fighting
Baghdad has been fighting to wrest back Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's largest province Anbar, since the shock loss to IS last month - the worst defeat for the coalition since it formed nearly a year ago. Under the emergency plan adopted by Abadi's cabinet, the Iraqis hope to mobilise and arm the Sunni tribes of Anbar province - which they have previously been loath to do out of fears they could turn on the Shiite-led government. Abadi also plans to ensure all Sunni and Shiite militias are operating under Baghdad's authority, to avoid stoking ancient sectarian tensions between the two sects of Islam.
The loss of Ramadi as well as the historic Syrian city of Palmyra days later raised questions about the effectiveness of the coalition's strategy. But Blinken insisted: "In Iraq right now we have the right strategy, a combination of air strikes, training and effective global partners." None of Iraq's allies are willing to send troops into battle. The rout of Iraqi security forces in Ramadi also led to a diplomatic spat as US Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said there was "an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight", in comments that deeply angered Baghdad and forced Washington to apologise. Abadi himself urged more from his partners, saying most IS fighters were foreign and therefore an "international problem." "There is a lot of talk of support for Iraq, there is very little on the ground," he told reporters before the meeting. He said that until recently, around six out of 10 fighters were Iraqi and the remainder foreign, whereas the proportion was now reversed. The international community has to explain "why so many terrorists are from Saudi Arabia, why so many from the Gulf, why so many from Egypt, why so many from Syria, and Turkey and from European countries?" His criticism came as IS claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an Iraqi police base north of Baghdad on Monday that killed at least 37 people, mostly officers. Abadi warned that the jihadist onslaught in his country was not just an issue for Iraq. "There is a lack of intelligence, we are trying very hard on our part but this is a transnational organisation" This is a failure on the part of the world." And while the focus of the Paris meeting was the crisis in Iraq, the ministers also talked about neighbouring Syria where IS is wreaking havoc. A British actor who has had minor roles in Hollywood films has joined Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State group in Syria and appeared in an online video Tuesday.
Michael Enright, who played a deckhand in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," appeared in a video released by the Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as the YPG. The video showed him in a trench with other fighters firing an assault rifle. "ISIS are dangerous to every human being alive," Enright says in the video, posted on the YPG's Facebook page on Tuesday, referring to the IS group.
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