Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met with French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian and Turkish Minister of National Defense Fikri Işık today for a productive trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium.

The meeting focused on the counter-ISIL campaign in Iraq and Syria including an update on military operations to retake Mosul and Raqqa. The secretary thanked Minister Le Drian and Minister Işık for their countries' contributions to the campaign, while emphasizing the need for the coalition to maintain pressure on ISIL on multiple  fronts. The ministers also discussed the need to solidify and consolidate recent gains by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces along the Turkey-Syria border, and the need to maintain military cooperation in the area.

All sides agreed to maintain frequent communication on the full range of security interests, and to continue their close coordination and continued transparency in the coalition effort to deal ISIL a lasting defeat.