The United States government has been conducting series of dialogues with five Asean and Pacific countries to counter the global threat of ISIS in the Asean and Pacific regions.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the US government has been holding continuous talks with Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore to discuss measures how to counter this rising threat to global humanity. "To address ISIS, we have first to recognize that this is a global issue, " Tillerson said.
Secretary Tillerson made the announcement days after the US government provided two surveillance aircrafts to the Philippine government to help thousands of Philippine soldiers battle ISIS-inspired militants in Marawi, the Philippine's only Islamic city.
Tillerson said topping the agenda with the five countries was the identification of strategic interventions to counter this threat and these include counter terrorism training, law enforcement capability training, and intelligence sharing.
Tillerson is expected to arrive in Manila to also meet with ASEAN officials to brief them on the possible future threats of ISIS in the region.
The US government has expressed alarm when fighters from Syria and Iraq moved to the Southern Philippines to join local militants to raid Marawi. Government sources said 700 ISIS-inspired militants raided Marawi in May 23 and continue to engage a bloody armed firefight with Philippine soldiers.
Military reports said that ISIS-inspired militants continue to fight back despite the Philippine military continuous launching of airstrikes in their positions.
Philippine, Indonesia and Malaysia also launched the trilateral naval patrols to prevent the spill off of ISIS militants into maritime upon learning from the Indonesia department that there are 1,200 ISIS-inspired militants in the Philippines.
