MOSCOW, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - Military chiefs from countries forming an international coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) militants in the Middle East will meet next week in Washington, US, to discuss "coalition efforts," officials at the US Department of Defense said Friday.
The meeting "of more than 20 foreign chiefs of defense" is reportedly slated for next week in Washington, D.C., where military chiefs will "discuss the coalition efforts in the ongoing campaign against ISIL," a defense official was cited by Agence Frace-Presse as saying.
The gathering will be chaired by Gen. Martin Dempsey, who is United States' most senior military commander.
All European member states in the US-led coalition , as well as five Arab nations – Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – will be attending, according to AFP.
The Islamic State has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq. In August, the United States authorized limited airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq. Washington extended its airstrikes against the militants into Syria in September, after US President Barack Obama announced his decision to form an international anti-IS coalition.
The upcoming meeting will be held against the background of an aggravating situation on the Syrian border with Turkey where IS militants are tightening their grip on the besieged Kurdish town of Kobani, considered to be key to a significant stretch of the border.
