Kerry urges NATO to ‘step up’ fight against IS, praises UK

BRUSSELS, Belgium — US Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO allies Wednesday to intensify the fight against Islamic State, singling out Britain for praise as it looks set to join airstrikes against the jihadist group in Syria.

Kerry meanwhile said that Russia could be an “extremely constructive player” in finding an eventual peace settlement in Syria, which has been consumed by civil war for more than four years.

“I called on every NATO ally to step up support in the fight against Daesh, striking at the organization’s core in Syria and Iraq,” Kerry said after a meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 NATO states in Brussels.

“A number of allies are already bringing more to this battle or are planning to increase their contributions,” he said.

Kerry praised British Prime Minister David Cameron as Britain’s parliament looked set to vote in favor of joining the US-led bombing campaign against IS in Syria. Britain’s attacks are currently limited to Iraq.

“We are very pleased with efforts by Prime Minister Cameron to go to parliament,” Kerry said.

“It is a very important step. We applaud his leadership.”

Kerry said he hoped for constructive steps by Russia, which is also carrying out its own air campaign against jihadists in Syria, but had one of its warplanes shot down by NATO member Turkey recently.

Russia and NATO have been at loggerheads on a series of issues on their borders in recent years including the conflict in Ukraine and Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“We welcome Russia’s engagement in the Syria process,” Kerry said.

“As long as they’re focused on Daesh and as long they are genuine in wanting to be part of implementing the Geneva (accords), they can be an extremely constructive and important player in reaching a solution,” he added.

“I think the world would welcome that kind of cooperative effort.”

Kerry also played down any threat to Russia from NATO, which announced on Wednesday that it had invited Montenegro to be its 29th member despite warnings from Moscow which opposes NATO’s expansion eastwards.

“NATO is a defensive alliance that has existed for 70 years,” he said. “NATO is a not a threat to anybody… not an offensive organization, not focused on Russia per se. I would say to Russia and any other country — this is not focused on them specifically.”