Al-Jubeir spells out essential conditions for defeating IS

JEDDAH: The ouster of Bashar Assad from power and Iraqi political reforms are the two essential conditions for defeating the Islamic State terror group, said Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after attending a conference in Paris of international coalition to fight IS in Iraq and Syria, Al-Jubeir said the Iraqi government has already agreed to establish equality among all Iraqi ethnic groups including Sunnis.
“The Paris conference was significant in intensifying the fight against the IS terror group,” the foreign minister said. The US State Department has previously cited the Syrian regime’s support for IS terror group.
Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Iraq and its allies are pursuing "the winning strategy" to combat Islamic State in Iraq. Blinken said airstrikes and supporting Iraqi forces was the right way to tackle the IS threat.
Ministers from 20 countries debated the issue in Paris. Russia, Iran and Syria were absent. Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said other countries had a duty to support it in its struggle against IS. Al-Abadi earlier called the advance of IS a "failure" of the world.
But at a news conference with Blinken and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius following the talks, Al-Abadi said he had received fresh commitments of help from allies. IS has recently made gains in Iraq despite US-led coalition airstrikes.
Last month, IS militants seized Ramadi in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, as well as the strategically important Syrian town of Tadmur and the neighboring ancient ruins of Palmyra.