U.S. defense chief concerns IS in Iraq, Al Qaida in Yemen

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday voiced concerns that the Islamic State (IS) was threatening to take the capital of Anbar Province in Iraq while an al Qaida offshoot was making advances in Yemen.

Carter, joined at his first Pentagon news conference by U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey, confirmed that the al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen had seized the Riyan Airport, a nearby military base and the Dhabah oil terminal on the Arabian Sea.

Carter said AQAP was of particular concern because of its declared intention to launch terror attacks on the U.S. homeland.

"We continue to watch them and take action against AQAP," he said without giving specifics.

The U.S. has set up a "fusion center" in Saudi Arabia to provide intelligence and logistics support to the Saudi air campaign, Carter said, adding that the U.S. began providing earlier this month daily tanker flights to refuel Saudi warplanes if needed.

On Iraq, Dempsey said that the IS push against Ramadi, a populous city of about 100 km west of Baghdad, had already forced most of the residents to flee.

Meanwhile, Dempsey said he was more concerned about a separate IS push to the north against the oil refinery city of Baiji.

Carter and Dempsey said they had discussed countering IS moves in Ramadi and Baiji in meetings this week with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Endi