Greece’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias reaffirmed his government’s support in the fight against ISIS and acknowledged that although the terrorist organisation has lost territories in Syria and Iraq, “it still has access to funds which allow it to continue its terrorist activities.”
Dendias made the comments to reporteres following the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the “Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS”, held in Rome on Monday, noting his concern about the rising terrorist attacks in Africa, and he underlined that ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East are the basic targets of terrorist attacks.
According to diplomatic sources, the US foreign and finance ministries recently announced sanctions against three individuals and one business based in Turkey, which coordinated the promotion of financial and other assistance to “Islamic State”. This, it was added, was the fifth time since April 2020 that the US finance ministry imposed sanctions to individuals who support ISIS and are based in Turkey.
Dendias also attended an informal ministerial meeting on Syria, on the sidelines of the “Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS” meeting. This meeting was attended by a limited number of states, which are involved in -or have made a significant contribution to- developments in Syria.
After the end of the meeting on Syria, Dendias told reporters that “it is significant for Greek diplomacy that we were invited to the limited meeting of states on Syria,” as it is “a step that marks out return to meetings about the two countries that interest us in the broader region, and which are a source of problems, in Syria and Libya.”
The Rome conference was held at the invitation of Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio and U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
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