The session comes as the US bombs targets in and around the Libyan city of Sirte, in a notable expansion of the USA -led coalition’s military mission against IS.
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Obama’s meeting with Pentagon leaders comes as the U.S.is bombing targets in and around the Libyan city of Sirte, a notable expansion of the USA -led coalition’s military mission against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
President Barack Obama has said that the Islamic State militant group has shifted tactics from seeking new territory to using terrorist attacks outside its strongholds in Iraq and Syria after losing ground militarily there to the United States and its allies.
Numerous questions that came the president’s way focused on Trump.
As the jihadist group lost ground, he said, there were signs it was shifting to attacks overseas.
He says, “This wasn’t some nefarious deal”.
Speaking at a news conference at the Pentagon today, President Obama declared himself “pleased” with the progress in the ongoing ISIS war, insisting the USA had been making “significant gains” both in Iraq and Syria “and now Libya”, which the U.S. started attacking on Monday.
Still, nothing can be certain or foolproof, the president said.
“As we have seen, it is hard to prevent small cells of terrorists willing to kill the innocent and (who) are willing to die”, he said. “We’re going to keep going after ISIL aggressively across every front of this campaign”.
But an agreement with Russian Federation exposes the United States to risks, said Jeff Mankoff, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“Our air campaign continues to hammer ISIL targets”.
On the question of whether Trump was qualified to handle nuclear weapons, Obama said that Americans are counting on their next president to be somebody who has the right “temperament and good judgment”.
“The US remains prepared to work with Russian Federation to try to reduce the violence and strengthen our efforts against ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Syria”, Obama told reporters at the Pentagon, using an alternate acronym for the IS jihadist group. The president said that Isis appears to be shifting its attention to attacking cities overseas. Iraqi forces have taken Fallujah and are pushing up the Euphrates River valley.
Despite the massive effort, the jihadists still hold Mosul – Iraq’s second-largest city – and the Syrian city of Raqqa.
Obama after a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon Thursday.
Mr Obama said US-led forces continued to make significant gains against IS, killing its leaders, recapturing key towns such as Fallujah and Ramadi, and preventing the group from recording any major military successes in a year.
The president, criticized for suggesting Islamic State was made up of amateurs, presented a more measured assessment on Thursday.
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“So in some ways, rooting out these networks for smaller, less complicated attacks is tougher because it doesn’t require as many resources on their part or preparation, but it does mean we have to do even more to generate the intelligence and to work with our partners in order to degrade those networks”.
