The US led coalition could take up to two years to expel Islamic State from Iraq said the British foreign secretary said on Thursday.
“This isn’t going to be done in three months or six months. It’s going to take a year, two years to push ISIL (IS) back out of Iraq but we are doing the things that need to be done in order to turn the tide,” Mr Hammond told Sky News before hosting a meeting of 21 coalition members in London.
The meeting attended by the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, looked to examine ways of intensifying the campaign against Islamic State militants, reports Reuters.
“The purpose of coming here is to bring everybody’s best advice, everybody’s thoughts about where there may be weakness, everybody’s thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operations, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead,” said the John Kerry ahead of the meeting.
“This isn’t going to be done in three months or six months. It’s going to take a year, two years to push ISIL (IS) back out of Iraq but we are doing the things that need to be done in order to turn the tide,” Mr Hammond told Sky News before hosting a meeting of 21 coalition members in London.
The meeting attended by the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, looked to examine ways of intensifying the campaign against Islamic State militants, reports Reuters.
“The purpose of coming here is to bring everybody’s best advice, everybody’s thoughts about where there may be weakness, everybody’s thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operations, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead,” said the John Kerry ahead of the meeting.