Hungary ready to keep fighting ISIS, says foreign minister

Regardless of the military successes against the Islamic State, the terrorist group still poses a grave global and regional threat, and Hungary is ready to keep fighting it, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Washington on Wednesday.

Addressing a foreign ministers’ meeting convened by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo focusing on the global coalition against ISIS, Szijjártó said Hungary was aiding the fight against the group on three fronts.

The first front, he said, constituted Hungary’s efforts on the battlefield. He noted that Hungary has 200 troops stationed in Iraq carrying out training, advisory and assistance tasks.

As the second front,

Szijjártó named the help Hungary provides to displaced Middle Eastern Christians in returning to their homelands.

He voiced Hungary’s concern that if these communities cannot return to their homelands, the “vacuum” created by their departure would be filled by ISIS, “and then we will really find ourselves in a situation that we clearly have to avoid”.