Kerry: US trying to speed up efforts to defeat Islamic State

Standing without shoes as a sign of respect in the mosque, US Secretary of State John Kerry (left), and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, speak to the media after touring the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on Nov 23.

Islamic State attacks this month, both in Paris and Beirut, demonstrate the group’s global reach and further make the case to step up efforts against it in its power base of Iraq and Syria, Mr. Kerry added.

The Syrian president criticized the U.S.-led military intervention against his country, and said that the military action, allegedly aimed at ending with the Islamic State group, has meant that “terrorists have gained more ground and more recruits from around the world”. He and President Barack Obama will be discussing the fight against the extremists believed to be behind the attacks in Paris.

The U.S.is “pulling more than our weight” in the coalition, Earnest said.

Kerry said IS militants “are losing territory, they are losing towns, they are losing people, they are losing oil revenue”. Between meetings with Arab officials in Abu Dhabi, the chief American diplomat told reporters Obama was asking everyone in the US government for new concepts to speed up the fight.

Before the Paris attacks, the US had already made a decision to send special forces to Syria, and Kerry was involved in efforts to forge a cease-fire between the Syrian government and non-terrorist rebel groups.

“There is a very clear focus by everybody, there is a united front, and I am absolutely convinced that Daesh will be defeated and there will be increased steps taken in order to do so”, Kerry said, using another name for ISIS.

Kerry, meanwhile, suggested the US was exploring some new ideas.

And we know there are people who are terrorists in Libya, in Yemen, in Afghanistan, and other places. For one, the plan doesn’t say when Assad might leave power.

The White House is calling on US allies to do more in the campaign against the Islamic State group. Russian Federation and Iran support Assad.

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ali Mohammad Hammad Al Shamsi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme National Security Council, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority (EAA), Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the United States, Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Undersecretary of the Court of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Barbara A. Leaf, Ambassador of the United States to the UAE, and a number of officials. “If you can talk to some people and bring them back from there, and they want to go be part of the political process, and they’re willing to observe a ceasefire and put down their weapons, and so forth, then maybe that’s an opening”.