The United States will host the first major meeting since 2014 of a 68-nation coalition formed to fight Islamic State, administration officials announced Thursday. The conference is set for March 22-23, and the U.S. contingent will be led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a rare high-profile role. The meeting will underscore that the U.S. considers "the complete defeat" of Islamic State its "top priority in the Middle East," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in making the announcement. "It's an opportunity for Secretary Tillerson to lay out the challenges that are facing the coalition moving forward," he said. But there are new "battlefields," he said, such as the Internet, where Islamic State frequently recruits, indoctrinates and strategizes.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 09, 2017 20:54 UTC