Allies vow to destroy IS as attacks cast shadow over talks

WASHINGTON - The United States-led coalition against the Islamic State group vowed to crush the jihadists on Wednesday at a meeting overshadowed by an attack in London and civilian deaths in Syria.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson welcomed his counterparts from the mainly Western and Arab 68-nation alliance to Washington with a promise to hunt down IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

But he also warned the coalition is "not in the business of nation-building or reconstruction," amid concerns President Donald Trump is preparing to slash the US foreign aid budget.

Meanwhile, even as the ministers gathered at the State Department, news was breaking of the latest coalition airstrike to have reportedly killed dozens of civilians in northern Syria.

Then, as the delegates talked, reports came in from London about an attack on pedestrians and police outside the British parliament. Four people were killed and 40 injured in the assault that police attributed to "Islamist-related terrorism".

Tillerson met with Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson after the coalition summit, but a joint press appearance was canceled at the last minute.

In a statement released after the meeting, the 68 partners underlined their "determination to intensify and accelerate ... efforts to eliminate ISIS" in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

They hailed progress by US-backed local forces against the group's main strongholds in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian capital of its so-called "caliphate," Raqqa.

And, as they predicted victory on the battlefield, they vowed to prevent the group's fleeing fighters from spreading instability or from setting up a propaganda base in cyber space.

Tillerson said the US and its allies would help clear mines and establish stability in the aftermath of the fighting, but warned Iraq must lead its own reconstruction.

The strategy he outlined did not differ much from that in place under the previous US administration of president Barack Obama, but he did suggest a new plan for regional truces in Syria.

He admitted that "a more defined course of action in Syria is still coming together."

But he added: "The United States will increase our pressure on ISIS and al-Qaida and will work to establish interim zones of stability through cease-fire to allow refugees to go home."

Under Trump, the US is seeking to ban refugees from Syria, which would increase pressure on Syria's neighbors, already all but overwhelmed by millions fleeing the carnage.

Some in Washington want "safe zones" to be set up to house those fleeing both the war against the IS group and the bloodier civil conflict between rebels and the Syrian government.

But little detail has emerged as to how these might work.

On the battlefield, things are clearer, for now.

As US-led special forces and planes, Iraqi forces and Syrian militia groups close in Mosul and Raqqa, the talk is of tracking down the mysterious leader of IS.

"Nearly all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's deputies are now dead, including the mastermind behind the attacks in Brussels, Paris and elsewhere," Tillerson told delegates.

"It is only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets this same fate."

(China Daily 03/24/2017 page12)