The meeting was attended by more than 40 foreign ministers, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, Interpol police, the Assembly of Saharan Africa and the Arab League, as well as some African countries invited as observers.

The anti-ISIS coalition meeting in Rome is an opportunity to renew the coalition members’ collective commitment to the enduring defeat of ISIS and to prevent any attempt to revive it, especially in Africa. The foreign ministers of the member states of the anti-ISIS coalition stressed the importance of paying special attention to the commitments made, including financial commitments, in order to stabilize the liberated areas in Iraq and Syria. The fight against ISIS, especially in Africa, and the need to deal with the rooting of this group on the Black Continent were central to the talks. Because in Africa, especially in the Ivory Coast and Mozambique, extremist groups have expanded their activities. The countries present at the Rome summit agreed that the threat of the “Islamic State” still remained and that they were carrying out terrorist operations from their hideouts in Iraq and Syria.

The Italian foreign minister claims: The ISIS was defeated on the ground in March 2019, but despite its weakening power, it remains a serious threat in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. The threat posed by the ISIS is particularly worrying on the African continent and in areas of East Africa such as northern Mozambique. For this reason, and with the support of the United States and other partners, he proposed creation of a special task force for Africa to identify and stop ISIS field threats on the continent, and to take appropriate countermeasures in coordination with local partners.

According to the Italian side, some African countries that are not members of the anti-ISIS coalition, such as Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mozambique, were also invited to attend the meeting as observers. The meeting of the foreign ministers of the anti-ISIS coalition will make it possible to expand the coalition’s tools against terrorism to the south, especially to the coastal region, which is of great concern to the country. The meeting is seen as an opportunity to emphasize cohesion of the coalition, renew commitment to defeating ISIS, and maintain commitments to stabilize liberated areas in Iraq and Syria.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Italy’s fruitful work was clear to everyone and with the support of all participants, that country has brought together member countries of the anti-ISIS coalition, playing a strategic role. He said Italy’s initiative is strongly supported to ensure that the International Coalition against ISIS concentrates its experiences in Africa and closely monitors Syria and Iraq. The US Secretary of State added that they have decided to give more importance to Africa, and in his opinion they saw a strong consensus from the coalition partners to implement it. The international meeting to fight ISIS has achieved remarkable results.

Blinken called on coalition allies to accept foreign fighters of the “Islamic State” imprisoned in Syria. He said imprisoned jihadists must, as far as possible, find a way back to normal life through legal and judicial means, and they must be connected to the society; but said most European countries were resisting. They were not willing to accept those jihadists who were citizens of European countries in their country again. France and Britain are also resisting the repatriation of their nationals. The two countries have had bitter experiences in the past with ISIS attacks and have little incentive to bring them back.

In a final statement, the member states of the International Coalition against ISIS reaffirmed their commitment to continue the fight against ISIS, saying those seven years after the formation of the coalition and two years after the group’s defeat in Syria and Iraq, those countries continue their efforts to eradicate terrorism and the complete defeat of ISIS will continue. The coalition welcomes accession of the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Yemeni government and Mauritania to the international coalition against the Islamic State group and emphasizes strengthening of cooperation among coalition members to eliminate ISIS cells in Iraq and Syria.

The final document of the Rome meeting does not specify how the coalition wants to support African countries in their fight against the jihadists. The meeting was a gathering of ISIS sponsors and sympathizers who have no desire to support real democracy and merely seek to continue the war and bloodshed. The coalition has allocated 507 million dollars to fight ISIS this year and is working to increase that figure to 670 million dollars. The coalition claims that it will continue its efforts to eradicate terrorism and defeat ISIS completely.

The meeting was criticized by Syria. According to Damascus, the allegations of the coalition are not true and are pure lies. Syria, which has lamented the presence of foreign ministers of some countries who were forced to attend the summit, believes that the anti-ISIS coalition statement, which spoke of victories and imaginary plans to defeat the group, has no foreign presence and alleged aid across borders. It is up to the terrorist groups to dominate those areas and sell them at a high price on the black market.

According to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this was the United States and its allies that formed the ISIS terrorist group with financial, weaponry and media support. Trump also said during his presidency in 2016 that Obama and Hillary Clinton, the former president and secretary of state, were the founders of ISIS.

The terrorist group’s dominance over intelligence sources, as well as modern methods of warfare, has led it to be seen as a kind of American puppet. Although US and Western officials have apparently denied the allegations and placed themselves in the ranks of fighters with the group, in recent years various American figures have confirmed the direct role of the United States in the creation and development of ISIS. Such figures cite the sending of American weapons to the group’s allies in Syria as one of the reasons for strengthening ISIS. The revelations of Edward Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, read: The US, British and Israeli intelligence agencies were involved in the formation of ISIS and formed ISIS in an operation code-named hornet’s Nest. The purpose of this operation was to form a group with Islamic slogans that would attract extremists from all over the world.

The United States is trying to ride the wave of counter-terrorism and hide its role in supporting terrorists by forming an international coalition to fight ISIS; but the coalition’s performance well illustrates that the United States seeks to maintain the existence of terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria to justify its long-term presence in the two countries. There is serious doubt that the Americans are fighting ISIS along with their regional allies, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The United States and its allies, in the name of fighting ISIS, are pursuing their goals in the Middle East, disintegrating countries, and hitting the axis of resistance, and are using ISIS as a tool. The international coalition, after numerous terrorist incidents in different parts of Europe, has no choice but to claim in its official and propaganda discourse that it is fighting terrorism.