Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States is working to expand coalition operations against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

The military’s Central Command has launched a military planning conference to determine doctrine and methods to defeat ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. military is consulting with Arab and NATO participants on ways to advance the war against ISIL.

“This gathering of military planners from more than 30 nations is historic in many ways,” Centcom chief Gen. Lloyd Austin said.

The gathering, which began on Nov. 12, convened 200 military planners from more than 30 countries involved in the war against ISIL. Centcom said the parley would last until Nov. 21 at the command’s headquarters in MacDill Air Force base in Tampa, Fla.

Centcom has been overseeing daily air strikes on suspected ISIL positions in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. military has identified such Arab partners as Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

But officials acknowledged that air strikes were insufficient to stop ISIL. They said Washington has sought to launch ground operations that could drive ISIL out of Iraq’s Anbar and Syria’s Dir Al Zour.

“I have every confidence that over the next several days this esteemed group will do tremendous work and through their efforts set the conditions necessary to ensure that ISIL is defeated and long-term security and stability is achieved throughout the Central Region,” Austin said.

  War Council: U.S. plots an expansion of the war on ISIL at ‘historic’ gathering, WorldTribune.com