The American Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on the states and partners in the alliance to fight the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) not to slacken in their efforts.

Blinken and his counterpart Luigi Di Maio for the host country Italy chaired a meeting of the anti-IS alliance, to which 83 states and international organizations belong, in Rome on Monday.

The alliance was launched in September 2014 in response to the IS offensive in Syria and especially in Iraq on the initiative of the government in Washington.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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    In his speech, Blinken recalled that ISIS was still able to carry out devastating attacks in Iraq and Syria. This was last shown by the assassination attempt with 30 dead in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in January. Blinken demanded that the foreign IS fighters held in Syria by opposition militias be returned to their home countries and brought to justice there. At the meeting in Rome, Washington pledged a further $ 436 million for humanitarian aid in the crisis region. This added up to US aid payments in connection with the war in Syria to $ 13.5 billion, Blinken said. British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab pledged a further 14.7 million euros in Rome for the fight against IS.

    Blinken warned in Rome of the growing threat posed by IS in Africa. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas assured in Rome that the anti-IS alliance would “not give in to the terrorists an inch”, “not even in Africa”.

    In the summer of 2014, IS had taken control of large areas in northern Iraq, including the city of Mosul, where the then IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed the caliphate, which also includes the areas occupied by IS in neighboring Syria should. Supported by air strikes by the anti-IS alliance, the Iraqi armed forces and Shiite and Kurdish militias succeeded in liberating the IS-occupied areas in Iraq. IS lost its last bastion in March 2019 in eastern Syria. IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October 2019 during a deployment by American special forces in Syria. Little is known about the new IS leader Abu Hamsa al-Kuraishi. Last Tuesday, ISIS published an audio message from al Kuraishi calling for attacks against the West.

    Maas against withdrawal from Mali

    The anti-IS alliance is still in action there regardless of the military defeat of IS in Syria and Iraq.

    The Bundeswehr is involved in training Iraqi armed forces with around 250 soldiers, and it also operates a surveillance radar and tanker planes.

    Today IS is active in Afghanistan, Yemen, Egyptian North Sinai and West Africa.

    Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas spoke out on the sidelines of the meeting in Rome, despite the attack on the Bundeswehr in Mali last Friday, against a withdrawal of German soldiers from the West African country. A suicide bomber had attacked a patrol northeast of Gao city with a car bomb on Friday morning. 13 UN soldiers were injured, twelve Germans and one Belgian. Three Bundeswehr soldiers suffered serious injuries. According to the UN, the soldiers had secured the convoy of a Malian battalion. The injured German soldiers were flown back at the weekend and are being treated in clinics in Ulm and Koblenz.

    "We have to realize that the region threatens to become a hub of international terrorism," said Maas on Monday in Rome. That is why it is necessary to continue to get involved in the West African country together with partners. We are now talking about this within the EU and above all with France. Paris wants to drastically reduce its troop contingent in Mali. In addition to the UN mission to stabilize the country, the Bundeswehr is also involved in an EU training mission in Mali.

    Foreign Minister Maas wanted to travel from Rome to Bari in the southern Italian region of Apulia on Monday evening. The G20 foreign ministers' meeting will take place there and in Matera on Tuesday. Italy is chairing the G20 this year. The meeting of foreign ministers focuses on the topics of pandemics, climate protection, trade and the latest developments in the countries of Africa. The aim of the G20 meeting must be to set the course for the global fight against the pandemic, said Maas: “Now is the time to make global health structures fit for the coming health crisis. And we have to get the world economy back on its feet. "

    During his stay in Rome, Blinken also met Pope Francis at a private audience on Monday morning. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the conversation in a friendly atmosphere lasted about 40 minutes. President Joe Biden will travel to Rome in October for the G20 Summit of Developed and Emerging Countries. On this occasion, Biden will meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican.