US and allies meet in Paris to strengthen anti-IS coalition

US Defence Secretary said, “Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight”.

In his first visit here as defense secretary, prior to the coalition meeting Carter met with Le Drian and then laid a wreath at the makeshift memorial to last year’s Paris attacks at Place de la République.

“It’s now time to increase our collective effort”, Drian said. Other nations have provided various types of nonmilitary support, such as humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, Secretary Carter says he will deliver the results of the ministerial meeting to President Obama when he returns to the U.S.

“We are on track, we are doing serious damage to Daesh today”, he said.

According to a senior defense official, there were no specific offers from the ministers.

“They were truly galvanized, as numerous Europeans were, by the attacks in Paris”.

“It’s not about bombing haphazardly, but to give a military impulse to the disorganization of Deash’s command structure and to strip it of economic resources”, the official said.

Carter emphasized coalition efforts to “collapse” the Islamic State’s power centers of al Raqqa, in Syria, and Mosul, in Iraq.

U.S. and coalition forces are battling Islamic State militants in the skies and on the ground across Iraq and Syria, but the allies are increasingly also targeting the airwaves, where they now are losing the propaganda war. Defense chiefs from seven countries meet in Paris to plan to intensify their fight against Islamic State group extremists. “This is a meeting of defence ministers, and I’ll just remind everyone that the campaign is actually broader than a military campaign”.

The official was not authorized to talk about the discussions publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The US has delivered greater support for French deployment in the sub-Saharan Sahel region, providing intelligence, observation and logistical support, Le Drian said.

The coalition of political and armed opposition groups demanded the exclusion of other parties from the talks and a halt to the Syrian army’s bombardment and sieges of populated areas. “We are seeing the attacks on its oil wells and we are beginning to see attacks” in Mosul, Fallon told reporters. In March 2015, a Special Forces soldier, Sgt. Andrew Doiron, was killed by a Kurdish soldier in what is believed to have been a case of friendly fire and mistaken identity. But the vital needs are trainers and surveillance assets, such as drones.

The US has asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against IS after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. Speaking via video conference from Baghdad, he said that although the number of new trainers had not yet been worked out, he would estimate it at hundreds. “Kerry said Islamic State has already lost 20-30 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria combined and about 40 percent in Iraq”.

The casualty statistics suggest that the air campaign has become more lethal as U.S.-backed Iraqi ground forces have grown more aggressive, and coordination with coalition teams conducting the airstrikes has improved. He did not address the omission of Canada.