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           Kerry: Anti-Islamic State Effort Moving in Right Direction

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday the international
   effort to defeat the Islamic State group is "moving in the right
   direction," but he cautioned more must be done to support stabilization
   in Libya and Iraq.

   Kerry spoke at the opening of a ministerial meeting in Rome where
   representatives from about 20 countries came to talk about ways to
   boost the anti-Islamic State campaign.

   He highlighted the risk of the militants taking control in Libya with
   its vast oil resources, but said that a near agreement on a new
   national unity government would go a long way to preventing that
   scenario.

   Kerry also called attention to the humanitarian situation in Syria,
   saying it is a "catastrophe" not seen since World War Two.

   He said nations need to "speak out powerfully" about the need for a
   cease-fire, the end of sieges and urgent deliveries of aid to every
   area where people are in need.

   The coalition has several goals as part of a multi-prong strategy to
   defeat Islamic State, which swept through large areas of western and
   northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014.

   Those efforts include the U.S.-led campaign of airstrikes, military
   support for groups fighting on the ground in both countries, cutting
   off the group's financing, stopping the flow of foreign fighters and
   addressing humanitarian needs.

   Kerry said the military effort has killed 90 mid- and high-level
   Islamic State members since last May and achieved close to full control
   of the Turkey-Syria border.

   He said the challenge now is to relentlessly continue what has been
   working, and give the militants no time to regroup or safe havens in
   which to hide.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-anti-islamic-state-effort-moving-in-right-direction/3172903.html