France, Britain push US to keep pressure on Daesh

UNITED NATIONS — France and Britain said Tuesday the US-led coalition battling the Daesh terror group must press on and re-take Raqqa as President Donald Trump mulled a new strategy to defeat the radical militants.

France, the second largest contributor to the 68-country coalition fighting in Syria and Iraq, considers the fight against Daesh the "number one priority", said Ambassador Francois Delattre.

"It's very important that this country that we are living in fully recognises the threat of Daesh," said Delattre. 

"We helped the Iraqi forces to retake Mosul. The battle to retake Raqqa in Syria is also critical," the ambassador told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting on the threat posed by Daesh.

Britain also said the coalition, set up by former president Barack Obama in 2014, must stay the course.

"The next step for us is to attack Daesh in Raqqa and in Mosul, and to keep up the momentum that we have managed to maintain," said British Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson.

Trump on Monday visited US Central Command and vowed to defeat “radical Islamic terrorism”, but he did not offer details about his strategy which is under a 30-day review by the US military leadership.

Trump has reportedly shelved Obama’s plans for taking Raqqa, the Daesh group’s de facto capital in Syria, and is considering stronger cooperation with Russia, the Syrian regime’s ally.

The Security Council met to discuss a new UN report showing that the militants were losing territory, their revenues were dropping and recruitment was waning.

“Daesh is on the backfoot, their finances have been crippled, many of their leaders have been killed and the flow of foreign fighters to Daesh is drying up,” said Wilson.

“The key thing is to keep the focus on Daesh — to attack Daesh rather than to attack innocent civilians,” he added. 

UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman told the council that while Daesh was “on the defensive militarily in several regions”, it still appears to have sufficient funds to continue fighting.