U.S. Secretary of State travels to Egypt for anti-IS coalition talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in Egypt on Saturday, Sept 13 amid U.S. attempts to form a broad coalition to tackle Islamic State (IS) militants, according to BBC News.

Kerry will meet Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on the latest leg of his Middle East tour.

He has enlisted the support of 10 Arab states so far, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but on Friday he ruled out Iran joining the U.S.-led coalition.

On Friday, the CIA said IS has as many as 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq. IS controls large parts of both countries and its fighters have become notorious for their brutality, but in recent weeks they have been targeted by U.S. air strikes.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama unveiled plans for an expansion of the U.S. campaign against IS. He vowed to "hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are."

The 10 Arab countries to have signed up to the coalition are: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Later on Saturday, Kerry will meet with Arabi, the Secretary General of the Arab League, to discuss how the coalition will act against IS.

Kerry says military and intelligence experts will spend the coming days working out how each state will contribute.

But speaking in Turkey on Friday, he said it would be "inappropriate" for Iran to join the group because of its "engagement in Syria and elsewhere".

Iran has backed the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, while the U.S. and several European and Gulf countries have supported the rebel factions fighting to overthrow him.

Kerry held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday in an effort to secure more co-operation from the Turkish government in the fight against IS.

Turkey has refused to allow the use of its air bases to launch attacks on the jihadist group. One reason is that Turkey fears for the lives of nearly 50 Turkish hostages held by the militants, including staff from the consulate in Mosul, BBC News said.