Military chiefs gather in Paris to bolster Daesh fight

Paris: Defence chiefs from the United States, France, Britain and four other countries meet in Paris on Wednesday to examine ways to build on gains made against Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), including increasing the number of police and army trainers.

Daesh was ousted by government forces from the western Iraqi city of Ramadi last month and has been slowly pushed back in other areas.

“The object of today is to satisfy ourselves that the balance of the campaign is right... and that we can now capitalise on the setbacks Daesh has suffered in Iraq and move on to tighten the noose around the head of the snake in Syria in Raqqa,” British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters before the meeting.

Fallon said the group had lost 25 per cent of the area it controlled in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said the talks, which also include, Germany, Italy, Australia and the Netherlands, would focus on how to accelerate the campaign.

This could include an increase in the number of trainers and police who can help hold territory seized from Daesh.

France was the first country to join US-led air strikes in Iraq.

Since the Paris attacks by Daesh militants in November, President Francois Hollande has stepped up French aerial operations against the group, including in Syria, contributing about 20 per cent of coalition strikes.

“It’s not just about adding more planes, but also trainers to accelerate the speed with which local forces can retake territory against Daesh,” a French official said.

No Arab states are joining the meeting.

Fallon said many Arab allies have been occupied with the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen but there would be a meeting with Arab ministers in Brussels in the next few weeks.

Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has not been invited, though US Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss Syria with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Wednesday.

Moscow’s air campaign, which it claims is targeted against Daesh, has been criticised for focusing on the moderate opposition to Assad.

“I’m increasingly disturbed by the Russian bombing,” Fallon told reporters in Paris.

“We’ve had estimates of several hundred civilians killed now through the use of unguided munitions in civilian areas, clearly aimed at opposition groups that are fighting [Al] Assad, and that I deplore,” he added.

A French defence source said the ministers would look at ways to “up the tempo” of the air campaign, which began in 2014, adding that he hoped the meeting would become a regular event.

Daesh has seen some setbacks, losing around a quarter of its self-proclaimed caliphate, including the Iraqi city of Ramadi to US-backed local forces last month.

The US this week claimed to have leaked Daesh documents, showing the group had cut fighters’ pay by half since the coalition stepped up bombing of oil production, a key source of revenue for the group.

But the coalition faces major challenges, particularly the lack of ground forces willing to fight Daesh in Syria, since most groups are focused on toppling Assad.

“The sooner the civil war is brought to an end the better, and then we can all focus on the enemy that is Daesh,” said Fallon.

“That is going to take time, we don’t have what’s available in Iraq. We don’t have a New Model Army standing around the walls of Raqa waiting to move in. But that shouldn’t delay us in doing what we can from the air.”