WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday urged coalition partners fighting the Islamic State to contribute more to forces that are retaking Iraq's second-largest city and readying an assault on the extremists' self-declared Syrian capital.
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Addressing top diplomats of the 68-nation coalition, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for new ideas to expand the fight against the Islamic State in the Iraqi city of Mosul and accelerate the campaign to chase militants from Raqqa, Syria, while preparing for the complex humanitarian and political consequences of both efforts.
Tillerson did not propose, at least in his public remarks, a new approach, beyond noting the increased U.S. military role in each country. At least one country participating in the meeting, France, voiced frustration that Tillerson and other U.S. officials had not offered specifics.
"I recognize there are many pressing challenges in the Middle East, but defeating ISIS is the United States' No. 1 goal in the region," Tillerson said, using another name to refer to the Islamic State. "As we've said before, when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. We must continue to keep our focus on the most urgent matter at hand."
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said victory was finally within reach.
"We are at the stage of completely decimating Daesh," al-Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym for the extremist group.
Nothing Tillerson outlined departed significantly from the Obama administration's strategy, which focused on using local forces to retake territory along with efforts to disrupt the Islamic State's recruitment and financing, and the blueprint of the multilateral effort seemed unchanged.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was disappointed the U.S. hasn't outlined a more detailed plan, particularly for Raqqa's future. He said he understood Trump's administration was still formulating policy, explaining that he will be more concerned if decisions aren't made before the end of April.
"We are expecting some further clarity from the U.S.," he told reporters, citing France's desire for the city to be run by moderate opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad and not the country's Russian-backed government. He also wants to hear what America seeks from U.N.-led talks on a broader political settlement to the six-year civil war between Assad's military and various rebel groups.
Tillerson said the United States would play its part and pay its fair share of the overall operation. But he said other nations, particularly those that have faced attacks by or inspired by the Islamic State, must contribute more militarily or financially.
He said increased intelligence and information sharing could overcome traditional rivalries among different agencies and governments, and advocated an enhanced online effort to halt the spread of extremist views, especially as the Islamic State loses ground in Iraq and Syria.
Although Tillerson alluded to the intensified campaign, he said the Trump administration was still refining its strategy.
"A more defined course of action in Syria is still coming together," Tillerson said. "But I can say that the United States will increase our pressure on ISIS and al-Qaida and will work to establish interim zones of stability, through cease-fires, to allow refugees to return home."
The reference to "zones of stability" appeared to stop short of "safe zones," which the U.S. military has been reluctant to commit to enforcing in Syria.
In an interview, Hungary's foreign minister said he liked what he heard.
"We are enthusiastic about the new U.S. strategy," Peter Szijjarto said, adding that he saw Trump's administration determined "not only to fight against ISIS, but totally eliminate ISIS." He said his country would send 50 more soldiers to Iraq, taking its contribution to 200.
As the militants become more encircled, the mission will change. Officials expect in the coming months to see the dissipation of surviving fighters into underground cells that could plan and mount attacks throughout the Middle East, South and Central Asia, Europe, South America and the United States.
"As we stabilize areas encompassing ISIS' physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria, we also must prevent their seeds of hatred from taking root elsewhere," Tillerson said. "We must ensure ISIS cannot gain or maintain footholds in new regions of the world. We must fight ISIS online as aggressively as we would on the ground. A digital caliphate must not flourish in the place of a physical one."
Information for this article was conributed by Bradley Klapper of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/23/2017