'Increase intel sharing'
US officials on Thursday called on partners in the coalition against Islamic State to increase intelligence sharing as the militant group morphs to focus on attacks beyond its shrinking self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
"Even as it is losing ground in the Middle East, we know already that they're going to try to transform themselves into (a) global terrorist organization," US Secretary of State John Kerry said after a meeting of defense and foreign affairs chiefs from about 40 nations in the US-led coalition.
"We talked about the importance of real-time communication between countries, information sharing" about militant suspects, he said.
Kerry said that issue dominated the afternoon's discussions, which for the first time included the international police organization Interpol.
The goal, he said, is "that a border guard in southern Europe has the same data about a terrorist suspect as an airport security officer in Manila."
He and other officials suggested that wresting control of Islamic State's major remaining strongholds in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria is only a matter of time.
Brett McGurk, the United States' envoy to the coalition, told the meeting that the liberation of Mosul "is now in sight."
The meetings were meant as a show of unity in the coalition, whose members have sometimes differed on strategy.
Turkey's foreign and defense ministers did not attend the sessions, but Kerry said a top official from Ankara assured the group that Turkey's commitment to the fight against Islamic State would not be affected.
In the wake of deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels, in particular, the United States has pushed allies to share more information on suspected militants, some of whom have easily crossed intra-European borders.
Kerry said breaking down bureaucratic barriers was crucial to allow more sharing of information about threats as Islamic State seeks to boost recruitment by adopting new languages and moving into new territories.
Meanwhile, President Francois Hollande said yesterday France will supply weapons to Iraq to support its fight against the Islamic State group, but ruled out any troop deployment in the country.
"This morning at the defence council, I took the decision as part of the anti-Daesh coalition to make weapons available to Iraqi forces," Hollande said, using another name for IS. An aide to the president said the weaponry would include artillery batteries and that France would also send military advisors to train Iraqi forces in using them.
Russia bombed US, UK outposts: WSJ
Russian warplanes bombed a remote outpost in Syria used by elite US and British forces last month as well as another site linked to the CIA, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The Journal, which cited US officials as its source, said the previously unreported air strikes on June 16 and July 12 were part of a bid by Moscow to pressure Washington to cooperate more closely with it in the skies over Syria. US military and intelligence officials told the newspaper that the attacks hardened opposition at the Pentagon and the CIA to cooperating with the Russians. But the White House and the State Department, seeking to avoid a military escalation, decided to pursue a compromise, it said. Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry reached a provisional agreement with the Russians to join forces in strikes on Al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Under the agreement, the Russians would halt air strikes against US-backed rebels and restrain the Syrian air force in return for Washington easing Moscow's international isolation, the Journal said.
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