WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State (ISIL) John Allen will visit Italy, the Vatican, Turkey, Germany and Belgium this week to discuss the coalition’s efforts to defeat the ISIL, the US Department of State announced in a statement.
“On March 12 and 13… Allen and Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk will meet with Italian and Vatican officials to discuss Coalition efforts to degrade and defeat ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], including countering ISIL’s financing, and stopping the flow of foreign fighters,” the statement, issued on Wednesday, read.
From Turkey, Allen and McGurk will travel to Berlin for meetings with a number of Coalition partners to discuss cooperation in support of Iraq stabilization efforts, according to the release.
The two officials will conclude their travel in Brussels, where they will brief NATO and European Union representatives on the Coalition’s progress.
The United States is leading the international coalition of more than 60 nations that has been launching airstrikes against the ISIL in Iraq since last August, and in Syria since September.
The IS declared an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control in Iraq and Syria, forcing thousands of people, mostly religious minorities, to flee.
