Islamic State conflict: London hosts coalition talks
Islamic State crisis: John Kerry hails coalition effort
(about 6 hours later)
Foreign ministers from 21 countries are meeting in London to discuss ways to co-ordinate their efforts to combat the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
Coalition air strikes in Syria and Iraq have halted or reversed the momentum of jihadist group Islamic State, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said.
IS controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq and the US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes since August.
Speaking after talks in London between 21 coalition states, Mr Kerry said about half the group's leaders had been killed since strikes began in August.
But UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond insisted much more needed to be done.
The UK foreign secretary said the coalition was determined to defeat IS.
He told the BBC that the countries wanted to find ways to halt the flow of recruits to IS, cut off its funding and "tackle the underlying narrative".
But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned falling oil prices could hurt Iraq's fighting capacity.
They will also look at providing more military assistance to those fighting IS on the ground, and more humanitarian aid to its victims.
Mr Abadi thanked the coalition for providing training to his forces but said it needed more help with the supply of weapons.
BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says the recent attacks by Islamist militants in France have put even greater political pressure on governments to show decisive results.
BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says the recent attacks by Islamist militants in France have put even greater political pressure on governments to show decisive results.
'Greater resolve'
As well as the US, UK and Iraq, the talks included Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.
At the start of Thursday's conference at Lancaster House, which he is co-hosting with Mr Hammond, US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters: "We still have a lot of work to do."
Gulf coalition partners Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE also took part.
"The purpose of coming here is to bring everybody's best advice, everybody's thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody's thoughts about things we can do better, put that together and lay down the strategy for the days ahead."
'Taken out'
A senior US state department official said foreign fighters would be the "real focus" of the London conference, and that an expert working group would be formed to discuss sharing information to stop them travelling.
Speaking after the talks, Mr Kerry said: "In recent months we have seen definitively... momentum halted in Iraq and in some cases reversed."
The European police agency, Europol, estimates that up to 5,000 EU citizens have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight. Thousands of others have travelled from Arab and Muslim states.
After nearly 2,000 air strikes, ground forces had reclaimed some 700 sq km (270 sq m) of territory, he told the news conference.
Looking back at the past five months, Mr Hammond said the coalition's strategy had arrested the momentum of Islamic State, whose advance across Iraq began in June when it routed several army divisions and captured the northern city of Mosul.
At the start of the coalition air strikes, the group was thought to control nearly 91,000 sq km of territory across Syria and Iraq.
"The engagement of the coalition and the beginning of air strikes against [IS] positions halted that advance and in some cases it has begun to turn it back," he told the BBC.
Giving details of military operations against IS, Mr Kerry said the coalition was "taking out" its fighters "in the thousands thus far, single digits but thousands".
The state department official said IS had "gone from a force that was very much capable militarily to conduct fairly large-scale offensive operations to a force that is now digging in for defensive operations".
"About 50% of the top command" had been eliminated, he said.
What is Islamic State (IS)?
Hundreds of vehicles and tanks had been destroyed, he continued, as had nearly 200 oil and gas facilities being used by IS to fund its operations, and more than 1,000 IS military sites.
IS still controls many cities and major towns in northern and western Iraq. However, Iranian-backed Shia militia have begun advancing northwards from Baghdad, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north-east have retaken the Mosul dam and the town of Sinjar.
The host of the London talks, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, had warned at the start of the meeting that it could be months before Iraq was ready to take the offensive to IS.
In Syria, air strikes have failed to dislodge IS from its stronghold of Raqqa or stop the group from expanding its control in neighbouring areas. However, it has been unable to capture the town of Kobane after facing fierce resistance from Kurdish fighters backed by coalition aircraft.
But the country had clearly demonstrated its commitment to defeating radical Islamists who preach hatred, he said at the concluding news conference.
Mr Hammond warned that there was "a big job ahead" in Iraq.
"So long as Iraq delivers on its commitments, the international community will stand behind it," he said.
"We are building the Iraqi security forces from a state of disarray and poor training and poor leadership... for what will need to be a sustained offensive against [IS] forces on the ground."
Stressing that the collapse in the oil price had been "disastrous", Prime Minister Abadi pointed out that oil revenue accounted for 85% of Iraq's budget.
"It will be months yet before they are ready to start significant combat operations."
"We don't want to see a reverse of our military victory because of our budget and fiscal problems and we have been assured that every member of this coalition will stand with Iraq in its fight against Da'esh [IS]," he said.
Speaking in Iraq before flying to London, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the international community needed to do more to train and equip ground forces.
Among other issues discussed at the one-day conference was that of stopping foreign fighters travelling to the war zone.
In Syria, the US and its Western allies are relying on "moderate" rebels to take the fight to IS, and are reluctant to co-operate with President Bashar al-Assad, who they want out of power.
Mr Hammond said that Turkey, a key route for jihadists, was "doing a fantastic job of intercepting people who are seeking to get across the border into Syria".
The countries taking part in the conference along with the US and UK are Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
"The final bit of the jigsaw", he added, was to ensure EU states had the necessary access to passenger data to intercept suspects.
