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		</div><p>Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has affirmed that the alliance will join the international coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) &#8211; but will not wage direct war against the extremists.</p>
<p>In the wake of this week&#8217;s suicide bomb attack at a concert in Manchester, Nato leaders are keen to show that the alliance forged during the Cold War is responding to today&#8217;s security threats as they meet in Brussels. The announcement is timed to coincide with US president Donald Trump&#8217;s first appearance at a summit of the alliance&#8217;s leaders.</p>
<p>Mr Trump has questioned the body&#8217;s relevance and pushed members to do more to defend themselves. Mr Stoltenberg said joining the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition &#8220;will send a strong political message of Nato&#8217;s commitment to the fight against terrorism and also improve our coordination within the coalition&#8221;.</p>
<p>But he underlined that &#8220;it does not mean that Nato will engage in combat operations&#8221;. All 28 Nato allies are individual members of the 68-nation anti-IS coalition. But some, notably France and Germany, have feared that Nato officially joining it might upset decision-making within the coalition, or alienate Middle East countries taking part.</p>
<p>Mr Stoltenberg said joining would send a strong political signal. As part of its efforts to respond to Mr Trump&#8217;s demand to do more to fight terrorism, Nato will also set up a counter-terrorism intelligence cell to improve information-sharing.It will notably focus on so-called foreign fighters who travel from Europe to train or fight with extremists in Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>After a working dinner at Thursday&#8217;s summit, the leaders are also set to announce the appointment of an anti-terror coordinator to oversee their efforts, and increase the number of flight hours of a surveillance plane watching the skies over northern Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>Another big item on the Nato agenda is Mr Trump&#8217;s challenge to other countries to raise their military spending. Leaders will agree to submit annual action plans laying out how they plan to meet Nato&#8217;s spending goals. The plans would also describe what kind of military equipment they intend to invest in, and what contributions they will make to operations.</p>
<p>Mr Stoltenberg refused to be drawn into a row between the United States and Britain after leaked photos from the Manchester bomb scene appeared in The New York Times. He said the dispute over leaked intelligence is a &#8220;bilateral issue,&#8221; but noted that within Nato &#8220;sharing intelligence is based on trust&#8221;.</p>
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