Obama noted Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will travel this week to the Middle East to continue to garner support for the counter-Islamic State campaign by US allies in the region.
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Obama says ISIS has lost 40% of populated areas it once controlled in Iraq, and continues to lose area in Syria.
“Armenpress” reports that U.S. President Barack Obama announced the aforementioned on December 14, when summing up the results of the consultation dedicated to the issues of the fight against the Islamic State.
“ISIL leaders can not hide and our next message to them is simple: ‘You are next, ‘” the president said.
The U.S. Coalition has also been attacking ISIS oil refineries, trucks, convoys and other elements of their infrastructure.
“Every day, we destroy as well more of ISIL’s forces – their fighting positions, bunkers, and staging areas; their heavy weapons, bomb-making factories, compounds and training camps”, Obama said. Authorities believe the couple who carried out that attack were inspired by ISIL.
The Pentagon said last month it would deploy about 100 more special operations troops to Iraq as a “specialized expeditionary targeting force” to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture Islamic State leaders in Iraq.
Carter’s trip comes with US Secretary of State John Kerry due Tuesday in Moscow for talks with the Russian government to further the diplomatic process that has spawned plans for a meeting next month between the Syrian government and more moderate rebels.
Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which the Obama administration has said endangers USA national security.
At the White House today, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett led a conference call with a “broad array of faith-based organizations” to “discuss efforts to combat discrimination and highlight the need for welcoming all faiths and beliefs”, according to press secretary Josh Earnest.
Since then, the US military role has steadily grown in both Iraq and Syria, as the president explained in greater detail than he did in his Oval Office address to the nation a week earlier.
He cautioned that the U.S. and its partners faced “a very tough fight ahead”.
Even before the meeting the White House said no new major policy shifts would come from it.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said on Monday: “It’s obvious that the president’s current strategy isn’t working”. But the apparent lack of warning before San Bernardino has raised concerns about whether the US has a handle on potential attacks, especially during high-profile times such as the end-of-year holidays. The poll shows that more than seven in 10 adults think Muslims in the United States face discrimination for their religion, with almost six in 10 saying such discrimination is not justified.
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Meanwhile, Obama said, partners on the ground in Iraq and Syria are reclaiming territory. Almost 8 in 10 Republicans, about half of independents and 4 in 10 Democrats say the US military response has not gone far enough.
