Kerry: U.S. trying to speed up efforts to defeat Islamic State

As Mr. Kerry travels, French President Franç ois Hollande is set to arrive in Washington on Tuesday for bilateral talks on coordinating anti-Islamic State efforts.

Though critics have accused the Obama administration of lacking a clear strategy to defeat the Islamic State, Kerry has repeatedly insisted that strides have been made since a 65-nation coalition led by the United States coalesced a year ago.

“We have great hopes that our educational institutions will inspire creativity in children to echo our goals & achieve national aspirations”, His Highness tweeted. A few steps were in motion before the Paris attack, he said, such as the decision to deploy a few USA special forces to Syria and ongoing efforts toward a cease-fire between Syria’s government and rebel groups. He said it was “not a new idea”.

He said efforts to speed up the diplomacy and military action already were under way before coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday, claimed by Islamic State, killed 130 people.

“It has to be done in a way that manages the passions and the disappointment and the sacrifices and the anger that exists on the ground among people who have been fighting Assad for four years now”, Kerry said. “You have to do this in a way that actually brings them to the cease-fire”.

A US spokesman in Baghdad said Monday that the USA hit 283 oil tanker trucks in eastern Syria on Saturday as part of a concerted campaign to cripple the militants’ oil revenues.

Within the United States, officials have been debating whether to continue taking in Syrian refugees, or whether those refugees should be screened more closely to ensure they aren’t terrorists in disguise. The hopes are to get talks moving toward a political transition in Syria that eventually would unseat Assad.

Standing without shoes as a sign of respect in the mosque, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan speak to the media after touring the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, November 23, 2015.

These would exclude the ISIL jihadist group and the Al Qaeda affiliated Al Nusra Front. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey back the hard-line Islamist force; Assad’s government and its defenders, Iran and Russian Federation, see it as a terrorist entity.