US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed on Friday to turn up the heat on the ISIS jihadist group as he visited Baghdad to show support for Iraq’s crisis-hit government.
Kerry, on his first visit to Iraq since 2014, met with senior officials including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to discuss the fight against the extremist group.
He told journalists that the US-led coalition and Baghdad would “turn up the pressure even further” on IS, which has suffered a string of territorial losses in recent months in both Iraq and Syria.
The coalition is carrying out air strikes against IS, and is also providing training and arms to Iraqi forces.
Kerry said that retaking Mosul -- the largest Iraqi city under the jihadists’ control -- remained “at the top of the list in terms of priority”. The Iraqi army said last month that its troops and allied paramilitaries had begun what was expected to be a long and difficult offensive to retake Iraq’s second city.
Iraq is battling IS, which overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014, while it grapples with a financial crisis caused by plummeting world prices for oil, on which it relies for the vast majority of its revenues.
Abadi is seeking to replace his current cabinet with a Government of technocrats, a move that has faced opposition from powerful parties and politicians that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds.
“What we have signalled very clearly today... Is we support Prime Minister Abadi and his government as it addresses these very complex security, economic and political challenges,” Kerry said during his visit that lasted several hours.