US President Barack Obama has touted gains in the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but cautioned that the group, also known as ISIS, can still direct and inspire damaging attacks.
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A shift in tactics by the Islamic State group to include attacks on American soil will not stop the United States from fighting the terrorist group on every front across the globe, President Barack Obama said Thursday at the Pentagon. He acknowledged, however, that it is “very hard to prevent” attacks by small cells or “lone actors”.
“ISIL has not been able to reclaim any significant territory that they have lost”, Obama said.
“We’re going to test and see if we can get something that sticks”, Mr Obama said. “None of ISIL’s leaders are safe and we’re going to keep going after them”, Obama said in remarks at the Pentagon, using an alternative term for the terrorist organization.
The president conceded the complexity of the challenge in Syria, where the multi-sided 5-year-old civil war is a major impediment to finding and killing the militants.
The session comes as the U.S.is bombing targets in and around the Libyan city of Sirte, a notable expansion of the US -led coalition’s military mission against the Islamic State.
Obama pointed to a string of battlefield defeats suffered by the Islamic State in the past year as proof that the group is “not invincible”, and said that USA -backed Iraqi forces would use a recently recaptured air base as a hub to take back Mosul, the Islamic State’s largest stronghold in Iraq.
Obama said that ISIS has been losing ground in both Iraq and Syria.
Yet, despite the massive effort, ISIL still holds Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and the Syrian city of Raqqa.
“We are going to defeat the barbarians of ISIS, and we’re going to defeat them fast”, Trump said in his speech accepting the Republican nomination.
“Nothing will do more to discredit [the Islamic State group].than when it loses its base in Raqqa and in Mosul”, Obama said.
Nonetheless, Obama said the United States and its allies need to be careful to avoid civilian casualties and framing the conflict “as a clash of civilisations between the West and Islam”, which would suit IS’ narrative and bolster their support around the globe.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Mr. Obama said the US first needed to test if Russian Federation could guarantee a cessation of hostilities.
The president, however, said he remained skeptical of Russia’s motives.
“Isil can’t defeat the United States of America or our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners”, he said, using an alternative acronym for Islamic State.
The president said the U.S. had to improve its operations in disrupting terror networks and intercepting online messages to troubled individuals which were encouraging them to act.
As the country has fallen apart the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda affiliated groups and other assorted jihadists have flourished and a refugee crisis has destabilized the region and Europe.
The group, however, still maintains strongholds in the region, and the fight in Syria has bogged down.
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But the US will insist on certain “bottom-lines” if it is to increase its cooperation with Russian Federation, which will include Syrian government restraint that has so far been elusive, Obama said.
