Page 3 - Aruba Today

UP FRONT A3
Tuesday 24 November 2015

Kerry: US trying to speed up efforts to defeat Islamic State

and the disappointment

Continued from front and the sacrifices and the

anger that exists on the

President Barack Obama’s ground among people

administration faces pres- who have been fighting

sure at home and abroad Assad for four years now,”

to step up the fight against Kerry said. “You have to do

the Islamic State after its this in a way that actually

Nov. 13 attack in Paris killed brings them to the cease-

130 people. Obama meets fire.”

French President Francois Separately, the U.S. mili-

Hollande in Washington on tary said it destroyed 283

Tuesday. tanker trucks used by IS mil-

“The key is to destroy Dae- itants to transport oil from

sh rapidly in Syria and in producing fields in eastern

Iraq,” Kerry told reporters, Syria to smuggling points in

using an alternative term an acceleration of attacks

for the Islamic State. on one of the militants’

“I’d like to see us go fast- most important sources of

er,” he said. “The president income.

would like to see us go fast- The attack by four A-10 at-

er.” tack planes and two AC-

The chief American dip- 130 gunships was carried U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, asks a reporter to let him meet with Emirati Foreign Minis-
lomat said Obama was out Saturday at a site near ter Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, before
asking everyone in the U.S. Deir el-Zour and al-Ha- asking them questions, at a photo opportunity in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Nov.
government for new con- sakah but not made public 23, 2015 where the three were meeting to discuss Syria.
cepts to speed up the fight. until Monday. It followed a
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Some steps were in motion similar assault on Nov. 15

before the Paris attack, that destroyed 116 tanker

he said, such as the deci- trucks as part of a concert-

sion to deploy some U.S. ed campaign to cripple

special forces to Syria and the militants’ oil revenues.

ongoing efforts toward a Kerry said IS militants “are

cease-fire between Syria losing territory, they are los-

and rebel groups. ing towns, they are losing

But Kerry didn’t outline any people, they are losing oil

specific post-Paris addi- revenue.” But they’re gain-

tions to the strategy. ing support from other ter-

He made no mention of rorist groups around the

any country authorizing a world, making defeating

large-scale deployment them more urgent.

of boots on the ground to “We have to cut off this no-

Syria, as some Republican tion of success,” he said, by

presidential candidates which IS “gets a cheapie:

have suggested. And he Someone who already is a

dismissed the notion of a terrorist does something in

no-fly zone in Syria, pro- their name.”

me posed just last week by his Kerry was clearest in outlin-
em predecessor as secretary ing his focus in the overall
nd of state, Democratic presi- strategy: Getting Assad
art dential candidate Hillary and moderate rebels into a
ess, Rodham Clinton. He said it political transition process.
ob- was “not a new idea.” A truce could be a couple
put Kerry didn’t rule out great- of weeks away, he insisted,
nd er cooperation with Russia, even if several matters re-
at’s which Hollande is expect- main unresolved.
ed to ask Obama about. Kerry said discussions Mon-

Obama and other U.S. of- day with Abu Dhabi’s

ficial say Russia must first crown prince, Sheikh Mo-

limit airstrikes to the Islamic hammed bin Zayed Al

State and other extremist Nahyan, and Saudi For-

groups, and not Western- eign Minister Adel al-Jubeir

backed, moderate forces. touched on Ahrar ash-

If rebels see new coop- Sham. Saudi Arabia, Qatar

eration with Russia as and Turkey back the hard-

designed to keep Syrian line Islamist force; Assad’s

President Bashar Assad in government and its de-

power, “that complicates fenders, Iran and Russia,

issues, and then you will see it as a terrorist entity.

have greater support go- Kerry sought a middle line.

ing to bad actors.” “You don’t want to cat-

“It has to be done in a way egorize everybody auto-

that manages the passions matically,” he said. q