Kerry urges global ‘coalition’ to fight IS militants

DAMASCUS: US Secretary of State John Kerry has called for a global coalition to combat Islamic State fighters´ "genocidal agenda" after President Barack Obama admitted he had no strategy to tackle the group.

Kerry´s call followed a decision by Britain to raise its terror alert level over fears of possible militants attacks.

The number of refugees who have fled Syria, where rebels have been battling the regime as well as militants, has now exceeded three million people, the United Nations said.

Writing in the New York Times, a week before a NATO summit in Wales, Kerry urged "a united response led by the United States and the broadest possible coalition of nations."

He said he and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel would meet with European counterparts on the sidelines of the summit to enlist assistance, and then travel on to the Middle East to build support "among the countries that are most directly threatened."

US President Obama has acknowledged that Washington has no strategy as yet to tackle the Islamic State, which has declared an Islamic "caliphate" in large swathes of territory under its control in Iraq and Syria.

But Kerry said in his op-ed on Friday that the United States would be putting forward an action plan at a summit meeting of the UN Security Council in September, when Washington will hold the group´s rotating presidency.

"What´s needed to confront its nihilistic vision and genocidal agenda is a global coalition using political, humanitarian, economic, law enforcement and intelligence tools to support military force," Kerry said.