The meeting of the reduced group of the coalition comes at a most opportune time for evaluating the current situation of the fight against DAESH and for revising the coalition's strategy. Despite the apparent victories on the ground, such as the occupation of Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria, the reality is that DAESH is weaker now than it was a year ago. Thanks to the efforts made by the coalition at a military, financing and policing level, DAESH currently holds less territory, its sources of funding are much more limited and it has greater difficulty recruiting foreign terrorist combatants.
In spite of this, DAESH remains a dangerous terrorist organisation, capable of inflicting great pain and suffering on the people of Syria and Iraq whilst serving as a pernicious model for terrorist gangs in many parts of the world. That is why it is necessary for the international coalition to persevere in its fight, which will be long and hard.
In Iraq, the coalition's strategy is based on support for Prime Minister al-Abadi, and his inclusive policy of involving all ethnic and religious groups in Iraq in State institutions in order to more effectively fight DAESH from a unified position. The group has specifically supported the strategic plan proposed by Prime Minister al-Abadi to recover Anbar province.
In Syria, by fostering a political solution to the crisis which, through negotiations between the regime and the moderate opposition forces, will lead to a transition. In this regard, the group backed mediation from the United Nations and specifically, the work of Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Everywhere it operates, the coalition must also help to forge bridges of dialogue among the various schools of Islam, and between Islam and other religions. The sectarian clash and the clash between religions is an instrument being manipulated by DAESH.
Spain forms part of a reduced coalition group and actively participates in its military wing, in preventing funding, in the fight against the recruitment of foreign terrorist combatants and in the ideological battle against the distortion of Islam that DAESH seeks to apply in justifying its criminal designs.
The appearance of terrorist groups in Libya that proclaim their allegiance to DAESH and are imitating their most abhorrent practices shows us just how near the enemy is to us and the need to defeat it for the sake of our own security.
Archivo