Obama pledges to ‘degrade and destroy’ Islamic State using air power

President Barack Obama vowed to strike the Islamic State (also known as ISIL and ISIS) in Syria and to expand operations in Iraq, seizing command of an international coalition to destroy the jihadist army. Obama, who wants history to remember him as the president who ended a decade of foreign wars, launched a major new escalation in the Middle East, also pledging to bolster Iraqi forces and to increase military assistance to Syria’s opposition.

I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.

U.S. President, Barack Obama

In a prime-time televised address, Obama said that IS, which has beheaded two U.S. journalists and seized a swathe of land in Iraq and Syria, was a uniquely brutal group even by the blood-soaked standards of the Middle East. Obama is ready to launch air strikes on Islamic State (IS) fighters in Syria and he’s urging Congress to give him “additional authorities and resources to train and equip” the Syrian opposition. The United States will also expand its campaign of air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and send another 475 troops to train local forces.

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