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Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is hosting senior officials
from 21 countries to discuss how they can step up their campaign
against IS in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere by doing more
militarily, more to cut off the extremist group's finances, and
more to stem the flow of foreign fighters.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is attending as is Iraqi
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was due to meet British
Prime Minister David Cameron beforehand. Abadi will tell
delegates how his government's fight against IS is progressing.
He wants more training and equipment for his soldiers beyond the
air strikes which the coalition is already conducting. Hammond
praised Iraqi forces on Thursday, saying the coalition was
helping rebuild them so they could launch a sustained ground
offensive against IS. But he warned it was a slow process.
"It will be months yet before they are ready to start
significant combat operations," Hammond told BBC Radio.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Michael Holden)
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