A ministerial meeting of the International anti-ISIS Coalition will take place in Rome today. Due to the pandemic, this is the first meeting of the alliance since February 2019 to take place in person. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) is also traveling to the Italian capital at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio and that of US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken.

The anti-IS coalition was founded in 2014 under former US President Barack Obama and currently comprises 83 members, including Germany and all other EU member states, and five international organizations (EU, NATO, Arab League, Interpol and the Sahel Community - and Sahara countries). It has the main task to deprive the terrorist militia of their sources of funding, to act against so-called foreign fighters, to support the stabilization in the areas liberated from ISIS rule in Syria and Iraq and to act against terrorist propaganda, especially on the Internet.

Education and de-radicalization programs

The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazlum Abdi, called on the coalition to assist the home countries from where ISIS members detained in the reception and internment camps in the Autonomous region of Northern and Eastern Syria in repatriating them. A solution for the tens of thousands of women, children and jihadists who ended up in the camps is essential for a “sustainable victory” over ISIS terrorism. "We call on the coalition to help these people return to their home countries, fund education and de-radicalization programs, and support stability and strong economic recovery in the Liberated Areas in order to tackle the root causes of extremism," Abdi wrote on Twitter.