Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who is coordinating the international effort against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), traveled to Iraq on Thursday to meet with local leaders.

Allen, along with Brett McGurk, the deputy assistant secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, will meet with Iraqi officials and regional leaders “on U.S. support for and cooperation with Iraq in the fight against” ISIS, the State Department said in a statement.

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From Iraq, the pair will travel to Belgium, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey to met with a “wide range of government officials, regional partners, and multilateral institutions in support of international coalition efforts to degrade and defeat” the terrorist organization.

The coalition, which now boasts roughly 40 countries, was bolstered on Thursday after lawmakers in Turkey voted to authorize the use of military force against ISIS.

President Obama picked Allen to head up the international coalition against ISIS last month, shortly after he laid out his four-point strategy to fight the group.

Allen previously served in Iraq as deputy commander in Anbar province from 2006-2008 and helped to organize a Sunni uprising against al Qaeda.

On Wednesday, Allen told CNN that it could take years to train vetted Syrian rebel forces to fight ISIS, a major pillar of Obama’s strategy against the terrorist group.

"It is going to take a while. It could take years, actually," he said.