Obama’s strategy on IS includes Syrian rebel support; blast hits Baghdad

President Barack Obama planned to outline a broad expansion of the U.S. military’s role in combating Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria in a high-stakes televised address to the nation Wednesday, including a call for arming Syrian opposition forces and potentially launching airstrikes in both countries. Obama has told congressional lawmakers that he has the authority to proceed with much of his plan without their formal approval. However, he is seeking authorisation from Congress for the train-and-equip operation for Syrian rebels, a request he first made earlier this summer. While Secretary of State John Kerry was in-country in Iraq to support its new prime minister’s efforts to fight IS, three car bombs exploded in eastern Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 29 police said.

Going it alone is not going to work … We must have the support of the international community if we’re to rid the world of ISIS.

Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Majority Leader

House Republicans threw a potential roadblock in front of Obama’s Syria plans Wednesday by not including language in a temporary funding measure. It was unclear whether Republicans were rejecting the request completely or would leave open another avenue. On the Senate floor, Democratic leader Harry Reid urged quick authorisation of the president’s request to help arm moderate opposition forces in Syria. He also backed another key element of Obama’s proposal: the formation of a coalition of countries in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere that would also contribute military and political assistance. For Obama, a sustained U.S. intervention in the Middle East is at odds with the vision he had for the region when he ran for president on a pledge to end the war in Iraq, where the role of American fighting forces drew to a close nearly three years ago. The timing of his announcement Wednesday night was all the more striking, just hours before anniversary commemorations of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Americas