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Paris conference to plan fight against Islamic State

He told CBS’s Face the Nation that there were allies willing to join the United States in air strikes. Some had offered to put troops on the ground, he said in the interview aired Sunday, adding: “But we are not looking for that at this moment anyway.”

“Every single aspect of the president’s strategy, and what is needed to be done in order to accomplish our goal, has been offered by one country or multiple countries, and all bases are covered,” Kerry said.

Opposition forces would do the fighting on the ground in Syria, augmented by US and allied air support, he said. Washington would not coordinate air attacks with the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad, but would ensure their forces do not come into conflict.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French radio that representatives from 29 countries and international organisations will take part in the Paris conference.

“Politicians have to weigh up the cost of action but also the cost of inaction and the cost of inaction here is to say to these terrorists ‘go on, you have a free rein’,” said Fabius.

Masum and Kerry’s Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are among the top players in the talks aimed at defining the role each member will have in the fight to destroy IS.

Australia is among the latest to make a concrete commitment to the growing coalition, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying Canberra would deploy 600 troops to the United Arab Emirates, a regional Washington ally.

Ten Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, are among the countries backing the coalition.

Speaking in Paris, a US official said the number of countries signing on was “going up almost every hour,” from Europe and the Middle East right across to Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

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