The US Secretary of State says “significant progress” has been made by the US-led coalition in fighting the self-proclaimed Islamic State militant organisation.<br /><br /> As for reports that Iran – not a coalition member – had bombarded ISIL targets in Iraq, John Kerry said if such action was restricted to the extremists and had an impact, then that was “positive”.<br /><br /> Speaking after a meeting in Brussels of over 60 countries from the coalition, Kerry said two months of airstrikes had damaged ISIL’s capabilities.<br /><br /> But he added that beating the extremists would take “years” and would involve more than a military struggle, rather a huge effort on several fronts.<br /><br /> “Defeating ISIL on the battlefield, restricting its finances, enacting laws to restrict the flow of foreign fighters and countering its toxic ideology,” Kerry told a news conference.<br /><br /> The Secretary of State said more than two months of coalition airstrikes had made it much harder for ISIL to operate.<br /><br /> Earlier he said around 1,000 airstrikes had taken place so far in Syria and Iraq.<br /><br /> Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi joined the talks in Brussels. <br /><br /> Backed by the coalition, the Iraqi army, Sunni tribal fighters and Kurdish forces have recovered some of the ground the jihadists won in large territorial advances last summer.<br /><br /> The coalition meeting ended with a joint statement proclaiming unity of purpose against ISIL. <br /><br /> Euronews correspondent James Franey reported from Brussels:<br />“There are a number of key questions still to be asked of the US-led strategy against ISIL. What future for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad? Where does it leave the other opposition forces fighting against him? And can military force really destroy a jihadist ideology? It’s the strategy that the US and its allies have been using in the fight against al Qaeda for well over a decade.” <br /><br /> The US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, say officials from both countries.
