Military leaders from the multinational coalition fighting militant extremists in Iraq and Syria will meet for the first time next week, a military official said.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, will convene the meeting of more than 20 foreign defense chiefs on Tuesday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., the official said.
During the meeting, known as a Chiefs of Defense Conference, or CHOD, the officers will "discuss the coalition efforts in the ongoing campaign against ISIL," the official said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS and the Islamic State.
The meeting, which will include Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the chief of U.S. Central Command, comes at a time of growing concern about the military effort against the militants, which has been ongoing for more than two months since President Obama first authorized air strikes in Iraq on Aug. 8.
Despite the coalition air campaign, the Islamic State militants have made significant progress lately, seizing towns and villages in Iraq's Anbar province and advancing on the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobani in Syria.
