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John Kerry Urges Coalition to Address Growing ISIS Threat in Libya Anti-ISIS Coalition to Intensify Efforts, John Kerry Says
(about 4 hours later)
ROME — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday at a meeting here of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State that the group must step up its efforts to prevent the militants from gaining a “stranglehold” in Libya, where it has become a growing threat. ROME — Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that members of the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State had agreed at a meeting here to intensify their efforts to defeat the group, but he ruled out sending United States forces to intervene in Libya, where the Sunni extremists are pressing to claim territory.
“We’re still not at the victory that we want to achieve, and will achieve, in either Syria or Iraq, and we have seen Daesh playing a game of metastasizing out to other countries, particularly Libya,” Mr. Kerry said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. The United States and 22 other nations agreed to “a very specific schedule” for backing the formation of a national unity government in Libya, Mr. Kerry said, and discussed contributions that would be needed from each nation to stabilize Iraq and address the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
Mr. Kerry, opening a day of meetings devoted to planning the next stages of the battle against the Sunni extremist group, said the formation of a national unity government in Libya would prevent the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, from seizing control of the country. “Every single country there agreed that each of us has to do more in order to more rapidly and completely defeat Daesh,” Mr. Kerry told reporters as he wrapped up a day of meetings in Rome devoted to planning the next stages of the battle against the group, using an Arabic acronym to refer to it.
Warning that the stakes were high, he said, “The last thing in the world you want is a false caliphate with access to billions of dollars of oil revenue.” But he said President Obama had made clear that he had no appetite for sending Ameican troops into Libya. “The president will never eliminate every option forever, if common sense dictated that the situation changed, or it required him to adjust, but that’s not in his horizon at the moment,” Mr. Kerry said.
President Obama and top officials in his administration have been meeting to determine how the United States will expand its offensive against the Islamic State, Mr. Kerry said, “and over time we will lay that out.” Mr. Kerry warned earlier on Tuesday that the group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was threatening to gain a “stranglehold” in Libya and with it access to vast oil wealth.
Mr. Kerry also used the session, jointly hosted by Italy and attended by 21 other nations in the coalition, to plead for more financial help to stabilize recently liberated areas of Iraq and for a strong international effort to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Paolo Gentiloni, the foreign minister of Italy, and Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister of France, also said their governments were not curently contemplating military operations inside Libya.
“The situation on the ground for the Syrian people is unfathomable — we haven’t seen a catastrophe like this since World War II, and it’s unfolding before our eyes,” Mr. Kerry said. For now, the coalition plans to work with Martin Kobler, the United Nations envoy for Libya, to help the country form a unity government, said Mr. Kerry. He said that process was crucial to prevent it from sliding into the hands of ISIS.
He said the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was guilty of war crimes for failing to allow humanitarian access to towns where starvation is rampant, including Madaya, saying that Mr. Assad had granted only 13 of 113 United Nations requests for such access. “We’re still not at the victory that we want to achieve and will achieve in either Syria or Iraq, and we have seen Daesh playing a game of metastasizing out to other countries, particularly Libya,” he said as the meetings began. “The last thing in the world you want is a false caliphate with access to billions of dollars of oil revenue.”
“Starvation as a tactic of war is against the laws of war, and it is being used every single day as a tactic by the Assad regime,” Mr. Kerry said, adding that there was an “urgent” need for the talks in Geneva to deliver a cease-fire, immediate humanitarian assistance and protection for civilians at risk from daily airstrikes. Mr. Kerry said that the coalition’s gains in pushing back ISIS in Iraq and Syria were “undeniable,” but that its members had to do more to sustain the success. On Tuesday, some countries were asked to provide additional training, medical supplies or other services for Iraqis, while Norway agreed to help clear mines from liberated areas of Iraq, including Ramadi, where ISIS left behind explosives and booby-trapped buildings.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks came amid reports of a government drive in northern Syria that threatened supply lines from Turkey to rebel forces in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo. In addition to aggravating the humanitarian situation, the new offensive, backed by heavy Russian airstrikes, threatened to render meaningless efforts by the United Nations in Geneva to hold talks on a political settlement. At a conference in London on Thursday, Mr. Kerry said, the United States and other nations will announce additional humanitarian aid for Syria, where he said 13.5 million people, including six million children, were in urgent need. Next week in Munich, diplomats will discuss “additional contributions” that can be made by a group of nations pushing for a resolution of Syria’s civil war, he said. And defense ministers of the coalition countries will assemble for the first time next week in Brussels to talk about expanding the military offensive against ISIS.
“We are committed to using every resource at our disposal in order to remain on the offensive on every front,” Mr. Kerry said.
He described a United Nations-led effort unfolding in Geneva to bring about a political solution to the Syrian conflict as a vital piece of that process, calling President Bashar al-Assad “a magnet for terrorism” and accusing his government of war crimes for preventing humanitarian relief efforts to reach starving Syrians.
“Starvation as a tactic of war is against the laws of war, and it is being used every single day as a tactic by the Assad regime,” Mr. Kerry said at the start of the gathering. He said there was an “urgent” need for the talks in Geneva to deliver a cease-fire, immediate humanitarian assistance and protection for civilians at risk from daily airstrikes.
“It would help enormously if those who say they are there to fight Daesh fight Daesh,” Mr. Kerry said later, apparently referring to Russian forces that have carried out airstrikes far from ISIS’s strongholds, in areas dominated by anti-Assad rebels.
His remarks came amid reports of a government drive in northern Syria that threatened supply lines from Turkey to rebel forces in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo. In addition to aggravating the suffering of civilians, the new offensive, backed by heavy Russian airstrikes, threatened to render meaningless the Geneva talks.