Region

BAGHDAD — A huge suicide attack on an Iraqi police base killed at least 37 people Monday as an operation against the Daesh group continued but looked far from retaking Ramadi.

In Syria, the jihadists kept expanding their self-proclaimed caliphate after weekend gains against both government forces and rival rebels.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle at a police base in Iraq's Salaheddin province, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 30, officers said.

"They are mostly policemen," said a doctor at the main hospital in the nearby city of Samarra where the casualties were brought.

Some police officers said the suicide attacker used a tank to muscle his way into the police base, located between Samarra and Tharthar lake, northwest of Baghdad.

The area is being used as part of a military operation aimed at cutting off the Daesh terror group's supply lines in the Anbar province of western Iraq.

Daesh fighters have in the past year seized a formidable arsenal of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition from retreating Iraqi forces.

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said Sunday that Iraq had lost 2,300 Humvee armoured vehicles during the fall of second city Mosul a year ago.

The jihadists’ latest haul came on May 17 when they captured Ramadi, the capital of Anbar which government and allied tribal fighters had managed to defend for more than 12 months.

The debacle of the security forces prompted Abadi to call in the Hashed Al Shaabi, an umbrella organisation which includes Iran-backed Shiite militias that Baghdad and Washington had been reluctant to involve in the Sunni bastion of Anbar.

Daesh gains in Syria

A counter-offensive was launched but Iraqi forces have either stopped on the outskirts of Ramadi or focused efforts on outlying areas in and around Anbar to sever the jihadists’ supply lines.

Daesh used an unprecedented number of massive truck bombs to blast its way to government strongholds in Ramadi and it has continued to unleash suicide vehicle-borne bombs on a daily basis since.

Abadi vowed after the stinging setback he suffered in Ramadi that his troops would wrest it back within days, but he has also admitted the truck bombs were keeping government forces from entering the city.

The capture of Ramadi coincided with Daesh’s takeover of Palmyra in Syria, in what appeared to swing the momentum in the jihadists’ favour after months on the back foot.

On Monday, Daesh advanced towards Marea, a village between Aleppo and the Turkish border. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Daesh expanded its control in Aleppo province at the weekend, at the expense of rival rebel groups.

The jihadists also gained ground in northeastern Syria, where a suicide bomber killed “at least nine regime loyalists” near Hasakeh, the observatory said.

Daesh also ousted government forces from areas in the central province of Homs.

“The road is now open [for Daesh] from Palmyra to Anbar province in Iraq, without any obstacles,” said activist Mohammed Hassan Al Homsi.

Rising death toll

Geographer and analyst Fabrice Balanche said that across Iraq and Syria, the jihadist group now controlled nearly 300,000 square kilometres, an area the size of Italy.

The multiple offensives by Daesh resulted in a surge of casualties across Syria and Iraq in May.

The observatory said it had recorded the deaths of at least 6,657 people last month, the highest number this year.

In Iraq, the health governorate in Anbar reported at least 102 civilian deaths in May alone. 

The United Nations said even partial figures not covering the areas worst affected by conflict showed at least 665 civilians were killed last month.

Aid agencies are preparing to launch a fundraising appeal for half a billion dollars for the crisis in Iraq, UNICEF said.

“Five hundred million is really the bare minimum. We’re cutting it down to the bare bone,” said Philippe Heffinck, the representative of the UN’s children’s agency in Iraq.

According to the UN, 2.9 million people have been displaced by violence in Iraq since the start of 2014 and almost four times as many have been forced from their homes in Syria since the conflict started there more than four years ago.

SANAA — Efforts to bring Yemen's warring factions together to discuss their conflict have made some progress, officials said on Monday, as warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition mounted more air strikes against the dominant Houthi group.

Neighbouring Oman is trying to end more than two months of fighting that has killed nearly 2,000 people by mediating talks between US officials and representatives of the Houthi group.

Political sources in Oman, Yemen's eastern neighbour, confirmed on Monday that diplomats were brokering the talks between Houthi and US officials at a hotel in the capital Muscat aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Independent politicians in the Yemeni capital Sanaa said the talks have succeeded in narrowing gaps between the Houthis and the exiled government to pave the way for eventual United Nations-backed negotiations in Geneva.

"There's progress in the talks toward an agreement on a long truce and reviving political dialogue," one politician told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Oman is the only member of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council not taking part in the military campaign in Yemen, and has played a role as a peacemaker in the strife-torn region.

The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has also achieved progress in efforts to convene talks in Geneva, Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said.

He said progress was made on “the date, agenda and framework for the Geneva talks and the parties that attend the meeting” and that a formal announcement was expected within hours.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed was in the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks with Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, political figures and the government headed by Vice President Khaled Bahah. Before that, he held talks with Houthi leaders in Sanaa.

Previous plans for talks in Switzerland were postponed due to objections by the Riyadh-based Yemeni government, which wants the Houthis to quit Yemen’s main cities and recognise Hadi’s authority before speaking to them.

An Arab alliance has been bombing the Houthis since late March in a bid to restore Hadi to power. The Sunni Muslim states see the Houthis as a proxy for the influence of archrival Iran in impoverished Yemen.

The United States, the main ally of the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, has provided the kingdom with weapons and intelligence during its war against the Houthis.

The Houthis want a ceasefire as a precondition for talks, and the Yemeni politicians say the UN envoy has made progress toward an agreement on a five-week ceasefire and the release by the Houthis of several detained pro-Hadi figures — including the defence minister and the president’s brother.

Air strikes

Saudi planes and artillery on Monday bombed the Houthis’ northern stronghold province of Saada, bordering the kingdom.

The Houthis, who swept into Sanaa in September and fanned out across the country, say they are winning a revolution against corrupt officials and hardline Sunni militants.

Air strikes hit military positions aligned with the Houthis in Sanaa on Sunday, and residents reported the sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft fire continuing into Monday.

Warplanes also dropped bombs on Houthi fighters on the outskirts of Aden, a bastion of support for Hadi and scene of heavy clashes between the two sides.

A near-blockade of Yemeni skies and ports by the Arab coalition has led to severe shortages of food and fuel to its 25 million people, and aid groups have warned that the continuation of fighting could deepen the humanitarian crisis.

Famine Early Warning Systems, a monitoring group focusing on hunger, said on Monday that food price increases and lack of income could soon push remote areas of Yemen into emergency.

“Due to the continued impact of ongoing shocks, food security outcomes are likely to deteriorate over the coming months,” the group said in a statement.

The Local Rescue Committee, a Yemeni humanitarian group in the southern province on Dhalea, said residents in the area were suffering.

“Food, fuel and electricity are in short supply while sickness is spreading due to poor sanitation and stopped rubbish collection, meanwhile Dhalea is cut off by Houthi militias from resupply in every direction,” a committee official said.

DUBAI — An Iranian airline that acquired nine passenger jets in defiance of US sanctions will begin using them on international routes this week, the Fars news agency reported on Monday.

Mahan Air, which is blacklisted by Washington, acquired eight second-hand Airbus A340s and one Airbus A321 in early May. The US Treasury imposed sanctions on two firms based in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates on suspicion of helping the purchase.

The A340s will start flying from Tehran to Dubai and Istanbul within two days, and will later be used for long-haul journeys, Fars reported.

Tehran-based Mahan Air could not be reached for comment.

The US Treasury department last month said Mahan Air had a "blockable interest" in the planes, meaning they could be subject to an asset freeze, raising the possibility that US officials may attempt to have them seized at airports outside Iran.

The United States, which has imposed the most stringent sanctions on Iran, a country that is also under European and some UN measures over its nuclear activities, bans the sale of aircraft and parts to the Islamic republic.

Although the planes involved are second-hand and European-built, Washington's sanctions regime still allows it to blacklist entities involved in the transaction, blocking those companies from international financial markets.

The long-standing ban on the sales of spare parts was eased under an interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in late 2013, but US sanctions still restrict the sale of aircraft.

Although second-hand, Mahan Air's new aircraft are younger and in better condition than most of Iran's fleet, which has struggled to keep up maintenance under sanctions.

Airlines with limited access to the latest aircraft tend to use their best aircraft for overseas routes, due to higher safety standards and ticket costs.

Iranian airlines have suffered several fatal crashes in recent years due to mechanical failures. Thirty-nine people were killed in August last year when a locally built plane of Ukrainian design crashed after taking off from Tehran.

SANAA — One of several Americans held by Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen was set free on Monday, a US official said, as a French hostage abducted in Yemen by an unknown party appeared in a video pleading for help.

The rebels, known as Houthis, seized the capital last year and have been the target of a US-backed and Saudi-led air campaign since March 26. The deal to release the American, who was not immediately identified, was mediated by Oman.

The released American, who had been injured in unknown circumstances, was on his way to Oman, according to the US official, who was not authorised to publicly discuss the matter because of privacy rules and spoke on condition of anonymity. No details on the identity of the freed captive were immediately available.

A video, meanwhile, surfaced showing Frenchwoman Isabelle Prime, a World Bank consultant who was kidnapped in February, pleading for help. The Associated Press viewed the video on Monday.

Prime was abducted in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, along with her Yemeni translator, who was released shortly afterward. There was no word until now on her fate.

The Houthis control the capital, but Yemen is also home to a powerful local Al Qaeda affiliate that has carried out attacks in Sanaa and which has abducted foreigners in the past to trade for ransom or imprisoned militants.

In the video, Prime appeared sitting in the desert dressed in a black robe and looking frail and anguished. She addressed French President Francois Hollande and Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi by name, saying, "Please bring me to France fast because I am really, really tired”.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said his government has verified the authenticity of the video and that it was filmed in April. Nadal said officials from the ministry will meet with the Prime family on Tuesday.

He told AP that the French government is "mobilised to obtain the release" of Prime.

Word of four abducted Americans first surfaced on Friday when the Washington Post reported that three held private sector jobs, and that the fourth holds dual US-Yemeni citizenship. It said the Americans are believed to be imprisoned in Sanaa. A day later, the State Department said it was working to win the release of several Americans detained in Yemen.

Another American, Sharif Mobley, has been held in unclear circumstances for more than five years. Terrorism charges against him were dropped by a court during the rule of president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who stepped down in the face of massive protests in 2012. But Mobley was never released, and was accused of killing a prison guard during an escape attempt. He is now believed to be in the custody of the Houthis, who are allied with Saleh.

The Post report said the four most recently detained are among dozens of Americans who were unable to leave Yemen or who chose to remain in the country after the US closed its embassy following the Houthis' capture of the capital.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its air campaign on March 26 in a bid to roll back the rebels and restore to power President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia that month in the face of a rebel advance on the south. But two months of bombing have done little to push back the Houthis and allied military units loyal to Saleh.

The air strikes and ground fighting have killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced a half million people, according to the UN.

On Monday, coalition warplanes bombed the capital, targeting weapons depots in nearby Noqoum Mountain. An Associated Press video showed heavy smoke rising from the mountain as explosions rocked the area.

The ongoing fighting forced a ship carrying food aid to change course. The ship, chartered by the United Nations World Food Programme, was destined for the Yemeni Port of Aden, but port authorities warned it to change direction because of the fighting and head to the western Red Sea port city of Hodeida, a statement from the group said.

GAZA CITY — Germany's foreign minister paid a rare visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday, calling on Israel to ease a blockade on the territory and urging Hamas prevent rockets from being fired into Israel.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier became the latest Western diplomat, including UN chief Ban Ki-moon, to tour Gaza since a 50-day war with Israel last summer.

Israel launched its offensive in response to heavy rocket fire. More than 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 73 people on the Israeli side were killed. An estimated 18,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed, and thousands more damaged.

The European Union considers Hamas a terror group. Steinmeier was accompanied by gunmen who report to Hamas during their visit, as are all VIP's visiting Gaza.

While international donors have pledged billions of dollars in aid, much of the money has not materialised and little reconstruction has taken place.

Steinmeier called for more action to rebuild and improve Gaza's troubled economy. "This requires the opening of crossing points" by Israel, he said.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control in 2007, and all reconstruction materials must enter through Israeli-controlled crossings. Israel has eased the blockade to allow more materials to enter since the war, but officials say more are needed.

Bickering between Hamas and the rival Fateh movement of President Mahmoud Abbas has also hindered the process, since both sides have demanded control over border crossings.

Steinmeier said it would be difficult to rebuild Gaza while the rocket attacks continue. "This city should not be a launching pad for rockets into Israel," he said.

Hamas has largely honoured a ceasefire that ended the fighting last August, but smaller militant groups occasionally carry out attacks, including one last week. Israel holds Hamas responsible, and it responded with airstrikes on militant training sites.

Steinmeier did not meet Hamas officials. The group nonetheless called the visit "an important step”.

Steinmeier toured battered areas in eastern Gaza and inaugurated an expansion at a UN school. Later Monday, Steinmeier toured a southern Israeli community that was hit by rockets and mortars last year.

TRIPOLI — A Libyan court will rule on July 28 on a son of Muammar Qadhafi and 36 other former regime officials accused of war crimes and suppressing peaceful protests during the 2011 revolution, a state prosecutor said on Monday.

Saif Al Islam, the most high-profile of Qadhafi’s seven sons, has been on trial together with former spy chief Abdullah Al Senussi. Any verdict on Saif would be in absentia since he has been held since 2011 by a former rebel group in Zintan that opposes the Tripoli government.

Others in the dock include Qadhafi-era prime minister Baghdadi Al Mahmoudi, former foreign minister Abdul Ati Al Obeidi and ex-intelligence chief Buzeid Dorda. They also face corruption and other charges.

The trial had started in April 2014 before fighting between rival factions in Tripoli ripped Libya apart in a power struggle which has produced two governments competing for authority.

It takes place in Tripoli which is controlled by a rival government set up after an armed faction called Libya Dawn seized the capital in August, expelling the official premier to the east.

The struggle has worsened chaos in the oil producer which has struggled to establish basic institutions since Qadhafi’s four-decade one-man rule ended in 2011.

"The court has ended the hearing after all defendants gave their oral and written defence statements," said Sadiq Al Sur, head of the investigation department at the attorney general.

"God willing there will be a verdict on July 28... for 37 defendants," he told Reuters.

The International Criminal Court and other human rights organisations worry about the fairness of Libya's justice system although the North African country won the right in 2013 to try Qadhafi’s former spy chief at home instead of at the ICC in the Hague.

Sur said all defendants had plenty of time to meet their lawyers despite claims by some they had struggled to get access to their clients.

The verdicts could be appealed, said Sur.

Saif had appeared by video link in sessions at the start of trial but not later on. The Zintanis have refused to hand him over, saying they do not trust Tripoli to ensure he won't escape, but had agreed before the trial to have him tried in a court there.

CAIRO — A Cairo court on Monday adjourned the trial of three Al Jazeera television journalists for four days after hearing the prosecution's closing argument that their reporting had endangered Egypt's national security.

Australian journalist Peter Greste, who was released in February after 400 days in jail and deported, has not returned for the trial and the presiding judge only mentioned him once when reading out the names of the accused.

Mohammed Fahmy, a naturalised Canadian who gave up his Egyptian citizenship, and Egyptian Baher Mohammed were present to hear the argument that their meetings with members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and use of the word "coup" to describe the army's July 2013 seizure of power had harmed the country.

The three were arrested in December 2013 and originally sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation.

Egypt's high court ordered a retrial in January and Fahmy and Mohammed were released on bail in February, shortly after Greste was deported.

The three journalists, whose case prompted an international outcry, were arrested after several months of protests by Muslim Brotherhood supporters against the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Egyptian authorities accuse Qatar-based Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece of the Brotherhood, which was outlawed as a terrorist organisation after then army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi unseated Morsi following mass protests against his rule.

Al Jazeera denies the allegations.

Greste told Reuters last week he feared he would be found guilty in absentia at the retrial. Egyptian courts usually declare absent defendants guilty as charged and give them the option of a retrial if they turn themselves in.

The court will hear the defence's closing arguments in the June 4 session, Greste's lawyer Mostafa Nagy said.

Separately, a Cairo criminal court sentenced in absentia 29 people, including seven minors, to between five and 10 years in prison for charges including illegal assembly, threatening violence and destroying public property, a judicial source said.

The defendants were arrested after a February 2013 protest at the presidential palace in Cairo, one of many demonstrations for and against Morsi in the months before his ouster.

The court had earlier released the defendants, who will be retried if they are arrested or hand themselves in.

BEIRUT — The Daesh group seized territory from both Syrian government forces and rival rebels over the weekend further expanding the caliphate it has proclaimed straddling Iraq and Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that following gains in both Homs province in the centre and Aleppo province in the north, Daesh now controlled half of the country's land area.

Geographer and analyst Fabrice Balanche said that across Iraq and Syria, the jihadist group now controlled nearly 300,000 square kilometres, an area the size of Italy.

In Aleppo province — on Syria's border with Turkey — Daesh has expanded its control at the expense of rival rebel groups. 

Daesh captured the village of Suran on Sunday taking them to within 10 kilometres of the border, the observatory said.

Three days of heavy fighting left 30 Daesh fighters and 45 rival rebels dead, the Britain-based watchdog said.

On Monday, the group advanced towards the town of Marea, which lies on a key supply route from Turkey for its rebel opponents. 

Daesh previously targeted Marea in April, detonating two car bombs and killing 15 rebel fighters, but it was unable to take the town.

In central Syria, Daesh ousted government forces on Saturday from a strategic crossroads south of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra. 

The checkpoint and nearby village of Basireh lead south to Damascus and west to Homs, as well as east to Daesh-controlled areas of Iraq. 

"The road is now open [for IS] from Palmyra to Anbar province in Iraq, without any obstacles," said local activist Mohammed Hassan Al Homsi.

Daesh overran Palmyra on May 21 after a bloody advance across the desert from their stronghold in the Euphrates valley to the east.

The city's fall came hot on the heels of the jihadists' capture of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi from Iraqi government forces.

That defeat forced Baghdad to call in Iran-backed Shiite militia forces to the predominantly Sunni province in a move that risks complicating its efforts to win the population back from the Sunni extremists of Daesh.

An Iranian officer was killed last week while advising Iraqi forces on their campaign to recapture Ramadi, Iranian state media reported on Monday.

In northeastern Syria, Daesh has advanced to within 2 kilometres of the provincial capital of Hasakeh, the observatory said.

On Monday, "an IS fighter blew himself up at a pro-government checkpoint near Hasakeh, killing at least nine regime loyalists”, it added.

Syria's 'unwinnable' war

Syrian government forces have proved increasingly unwilling to fight Daesh in areas that are regarded as marginal.

For the regime, "the territories that are vital to protect... are Damascus, Homs, Hama, and the coast”, a security source said. 

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the government was suffering from a severe shortage of military personnel both because of heavy battlefield losses and because of difficulties recruiting replacements.

"The armed forces and pro-government militia are unwilling to fight in areas where the local population isn't also fighting," he told AFP. 

In particular, soldiers were hesitant to get involved in areas with a Sunni Muslim majority, compared to those which are largely Alawite — the offshoot of Shiite Islam to which President Bashar Assad belongs. 

A pro-regime Facebook page publishing news from the Assad heartland of Latakia lamented the "thousands of martyrs and wounded" that coastal provinces had suffered during the war, demanding that other areas take up arms so that minorities would not carry the burden alone. 

Analyst Aron Lund said that Daesh and its Syrian government and rebel opponents were engaged in a bloody multi-front war in which there would be no winners.

"Cities will be taken and retaken, and battles will be won and lost, until we all lose track," he said. 

"But you cannot win a war like Syria's any more than you can win a plague or an earthquake." 

BEIRUT — The UN envoy to Syria condemned regime bombing of civilian areas as "totally unacceptable" after more than 140 people were killed in a day of heavy air raids.

Across the border in Iraq, pro-government forces pressed their operation aimed at sealing off jihadists who captured the city of Ramadi two weeks ago.

In Syria, barrel bombs dropped by President Bashar Assad's helicopters killed 84 civilians, including children, in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, a monitoring group said.

"The news of aerial bombing by Syrian helicopters on a civilian area of the Aleppo neighbourhood of Al Shaar deserves the most strong international condemnation," UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said in a statement.

"The use of barrel bombs must stop," he said. "All evidence shows that the overwhelming majority of the civilian victims in the Syrian conflict have been caused by the use of such indiscriminate aerial weapons."

He said it was "totally unacceptable that the Syrian airforce attacks its own territory in an indiscriminate way, killing its own citizens”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime air strikes throughout Syria killed at least 141 people on Saturday, including 20 in a rebel-controlled village in northwest Idlib. 

It said 22 people were killed in raids on the northeastern jihadist-dominated town of Al Shadadeh. 

Its toll did not include another 43 people — including fighters from the Daesh group and their families — killed in a government raid on the same town. 

Air raids also killed civilians in Damascus, Deir Ezzor, and Daraa provinces, the monitor said. 

Syria's conflict, which began in March 2011, has left more than 220,000 people dead and forced millions to flee. 

Several rounds of peace talks have made no headway and the UN envoy's efforts to broker a ceasefire in the second city of Aleppo were rejected by rebel factions.

'Indiscriminate methods'

Regime barrel bombs — crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives — have often struck schools, hospitals, and markets in Syria. 

But the toll from the Saturday raids, which also targeted a market in the Daesh-controlled town of Al Bab, was among the highest.

"This is further shocking proof of the horrific and indiscriminate methods the Assad regime is using to kill and injure innocent civilians, including children," said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

The tactic of carrying out air attacks on built-up areas after battleground losses has become common practise for Syria's regime, which ceded swathes of territory in May.

"The regime has always dropped barrel bombs in this war, but it is intensifying its strikes believing it can compensate for territorial losses," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

His group has documented reported 17,000 barrel bombings by the Syrian regime since October.

Aerial raids continued on Sunday, with three civilians killed in a second barrel bomb attack on Al Bab. 

Syria's state news agency said eight civilians were killed when "terrorists fired rockets on Al Aathamiyeh neighbourhood in Aleppo”. 

It also reported that 27 civilians were killed and dozens more injured when a bush fire spread to a local clinic in the northeast Hasakeh province. 

Daesh advances in Syria

Following defeats in Idlib's provincial capital and at a massive military base nearby, government forces also lost the ancient city of Palmyra to Daesh on May 21. 

The jihadists demolished Palmyra's notorious government prison on Saturday, razing what was for decades a symbol of abuses against regime opponents. 

Daesh also seized a major checkpoint at a crossroads south of Palmyra on routes leading to Damascus as well as Homs to the west, the observatory said.

"The road is now open [for IS] from Palmyra to Anbar province in Iraq, without any obstacles," said Mohammed Hassan Al Homsi, a local activist. 

Daesh consolidated its gains in northern Aleppo province, overrunning rebel-held villages near Turkey. The two-day clashes killed 31 rebels and 22 jihadists, according to the observatory.

It also advanced to within 4 kilometres of northeast Hasakeh city, leaving at least 15 regime forces dead. 

Despite recent losses, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Al Halqi on Sunday pledged the army would "liberate every foot of Syrian territory" from the jihadists. 

In Iraq, government troops and allied paramilitary forces on Saturday retook an area west of Ramadi, captured by Daesh two weeks ago.

But Human Rights Watch accused Iraqi authorities of blocking thousands of families from escaping violence in the mainly Sunni province of Anbar.

PARIS — The anti-Daesh coalition will meet in Paris Tuesday after a series of shock battlefield gains by the jihadists, with Iraq under pressure to step up its fight by being more inclusive of the Sunni minority.

The main focus of the meeting will be the crisis in Iraq, where the Daesh group seized the city of Ramadi two weeks ago in the biggest blow to the US-led coalition since it began bombarding jihadist positions in August.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will take part in the talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi and other diplomats "remotely" after breaking his leg in a cycling accident, the State Department said.

"We are going to discuss Iraq, how to get Daesh [IS] to retreat," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last week, warning Baghdad over sectarian tensions which experts say are impeding the country's ability to counter the jihadists.

"We engaged militarily but with a political condition: that the government be inclusive, that means bringing everyone together, Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds."

"I am saying clearly that this needs to be better respected from now on," Fabius said in separate comments to parliament.

French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said that while the talks would centre on Iraq, "taking into account the battlefield and the overlapping of the situation, Syria will also be discussed”.

According to a French diplomatic source, ministers from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are expected to be among 24 participants at the meeting.

Sunni-Shiite suspicions

The US-led coalition of some 60 nations formed last year after the Daesh group went on a rampage across Iraq and Syria, seizing key territory upon which it declared a caliphate.

With no one willing to send troops into battle, the campaign has relied on air strikes and efforts to arm and train Iraqi government troops and Sunni tribesmen.

However the jihadists' capture of Ramadi, followed days later by the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, has raised hard questions about the efficacy of the coalition's current strategy.

It has also exposed the obstacle of ancient sectarian tensions between the Shiite and Sunni sects of Islam which run deep in Iraq.

Magdalena Kirchner of the German think tank DGAP said efforts to include the Sunni politically "are not working at all" due to deeply ingrained suspicion between the two sides.

The coalition has pushed for Sunni tribal fighters to be trained to fight the largely Sunni Daesh fighters in their own areas, but Shiite-ruled Baghdad is reticent to arm a population it fears may turn on it.

Washington itself has sent thousands of military advisers to train Sunni tribal fighters and help reform Iraq's shambolic army.

Part of the hope was that better preparing the Sunnis to defend themselves would halt the spread of Shiite militias loyal to Tehran.

But faced with the collapse of security forces during the fall of Ramadi, Baghdad reluctantly sent in the Iranian-backed Hashed Al Shaabi umbrella organisation for Shiite militia and volunteers which helped government forces retake an area west of the city on Saturday.

Observers and politicians have warned that sectarianism in Iraq could be the death knell to efforts to combat Daesh.

"A way must be found to achieve what has so far proved most elusive: An end to the alienation of Sunni populations in Iraq and Syria, the most powerful engine of attraction for Daesh recruits," Middle East expert John McLaughlin wrote in an analysis for the Brookings Institute on Saturday.

"This latter goal would require a combination of military pressure, persuasion and diplomacy of heroic scale. But the truth is that nothing else will work."