UPDATE 2 - Turkey joins international anti-Daesh meeting in London

ADDS DETAILS, STATEMENT FROM US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASHTON CARTER'S OFFICE, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Foreign ministers meeting here Thursday do not see a political future of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, according to Defense Secretary Michael Fallon.

“There is no victory in bombing hospitals and restricting humanitarian aid and ending up in a country you only control 40 percent of and is half destroyed with millions dispersed and hundreds of thousands killed. That is no victory,” Fallon's said at a joint news conference with U.S. defense chief Ashton Carter after the meeting.

"We don’t see a future for Syria with President Assad,” he said. “On the contrary, we continue to work for a political settlement in Syria that is genuinely pluralist that can involve all sectors of Syrian society but not Assad himself.”

Fourteen nations were represented at the meeting in London, including Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik.

Carter termed the coalition’s campaign in the region a success and thanked Isik and Iraqi Chief of Staff Gen. Othman al-Ghanimi for participating in the meeting.

“Today, we meet having reached a critical milestone in the campaign, as our forces are engaged in an intense effort to help isolate and collapse [Daesh's] control over both Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria -- the first, primary objective of our campaign,” Carter said.

"Indeed, we must and are combatting ISIL -- the ISIL cancer's metastases everywhere they emerge around world, which is the second objective of our campaign," he added.

Isik held one-on-one meetings with his British and American counterparts following the ministerial gathering.

A statement from Carter’s office said that during the meeting, the secretary thanked Turkey's for its significant contributions to the counter-ISIL campaign, especially Operation Euphrates Shield Ankara launched in late August to clear Daesh from along its border with Syria and, its efforts to close its borders to the terror group.

“The secretary also strongly condemned the Dec. 10 PKK attack on Turkish police and citizens and offered condolences on behalf of the Department of Defense for the tragic loss of life and he vowed the United States will continue to stand with Turkey to combat PKK, ISIL and terrorism in all its forms,” the statement added.

According to Turkish ministry sources, Isik underlined during the meeting that Turkey’s fight against the PKK would continue and thanked members for their condolences for the recent terror attack in Istanbul and the attention to Turkish sensitivities during operations in Syria and Iraq.

Isik also emphasized in meetings with Carter and Fallon that long-term success against Daesh’s ideology depends on Western communities fighting Islamophobia that is especially on the rise.

Billed as an attempt to deepen cooperation among anti-Daesh forces, the summit concentrated on developments in eastern Mosul and Raqqa.

A U.K. government statement said British warplanes destroyed Daesh positions around Mosul as Iraqi government forces continued to advance in the east of the city. The U.K. government said it had contributed to efforts to open a second front in Raqqa -- Daesh’s so-called capital.

Earlier, Fallon said the U.K. was playing a leading role in the fight against Daesh.

“In 2017, we must maintain momentum to deal these terrorists a decisive blow,” he added.

Carter agreed, saying: “In addition to putting ISIL on the path to a lasting defeat, we'll need to continue to counter not only the foreign fighters trying to escape ISIL, but also ISIL's attempts to relocate or to reinvent itself.

“Destroying ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria and combatting its metastases are critical to destroying both the fact and the idea that there can be an Islamic state based on ISIL's barbaric ideology. But more immediately -- and Michael made this point very well, it's also critical -- doing so is also critical to stopping plots against our homelands and our people, which is the third and really the most important objective, for our people, of our campaign.”

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN. The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.

Meanwhile, Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured the northern city of Mosul and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people are now displaced in Iraq -- more than half of them children -- while more than 10 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.