By Faisal Yasser
KUWAIT CITY
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel asserted on Monday that the strikes by an international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had managed to stop the militant group's advance.
Speaking to a press conference in Kuwait City, Stengel asserted the importance of fighting ISIL's ideology on the internet, along with fighting the group militarily and financially.
Hailing the military action against ISIL as effective, Stengel said the number of people joining the militant group had been decreasing. Many of the group's fighters, he added, had left the group after being disillusioned about its ideology.
The presser came at the end of a conference of anti-ISIL coalition members.
Nasser al-Mazeni of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry told reporters that the conference had drawn the participation of 14 countries who agreed to boost cooperation to fight extremism.
Since last month, the United States and its allies have been launching airstrikes against the ISIL, which recently overran vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
The strikes, however, although said to be effective, have so far failed to eradicate the militant movement, whose fighters hail from all over the globe.
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