Julie Bishop in Rome for anti-IS meeting

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is in Rome to attend a key international meeting aimed at building on recent military gains against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Tuesday's meeting of the Small Group of the Global Coalition to Combat Daesh (or IS) is being co-chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

In a statement before arriving in Rome Ms Bishop said the meeting came at a time when local forces in Syria and Iraq, supported by the coalition, were making military gains against IS.

"I will discuss with coalition counterparts ways to take advantage of this momentum and intensify the global fight against Daesh," she said.

About 780 Australian defence personnel are deployed in the Middle East engaged in Operation Okra to counter IS in the region.

They include about 400 assigned to an air task group of RAAF F/A Hornet fighter jets carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.

Another 300 are engaged in training Iraqi troops at a base northwest of Baghdad, and a further 80 are providing military assistance and advice to Iraqi counter-terror forces.

Heavy security is in place in central Rome, with armoured cars, soldiers with submachine guns and police on guard at key government venues and tourist sites.

The Rome meeting comes as a peace conference continues in Geneva, with UN-led negotiators meeting separately with representatives of the Syrian regime and opposition groups in a bid to achieve a ceasefire and a political settlement.

Ms Bishop said Australia hoped the Geneva talks would provide a pathway to resolving the Syrian conflict.

Following Tuesday's meeting in Rome Ms Bishop heads to London to attend a donors conference focusing on funding humanitarian assistance for people in Syria and refugees who have fled the war-torn nation.