MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - The US-led anti-Islamic State (IS) airstrike coalition will hold a conference on October 27 in Kuwait, a statement published on the US State Department's website said.
"Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel will travel to Kuwait to lead the U.S. delegation for the October 27 conference of coalition partners focused on countering ISIL messaging and combatting violent extremism in the region," the statement published Thursday said.
According to the statement, the conference will bring together senior officials from Bahrain, Egypt, France, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the UAE, enabling them to seek ways to augment the cooperation amongst the coalition partners.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
To impede the military advancement of the group, the United States launched airstrikes against the jihadists' positions in Iraq and Syria in mid-September, with some other countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Australia joining later to form an airstrike coalition to quash the militants.
