ISIS momentum halted or reversed in Iraq, John Kerry says

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that ISIS'smomentum in Iraq had been halted or reversed and that U.S. weapons for government forces would be arriving very shortly.

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"In recent months we have seen definitively ... momentum halted in Iraq and in some cases reversed," Kerry told a London news conference after a meeting of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria group.

"Ground forces supported by nearly 2,000 air strikes now have reclaimed some 700 square kilometres," he said, adding that Iraqi forces would be getting lots of U.S.-made M16 rifles "very, very shortly."

"There is an (arms) pipeline here, and it is working," he said.