Will the US strike ISIS in Syria? US President Obama. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Mark Garten
The US fight with the ISIS terrorist group could include expanding US assistance to moderate rebels in Syria, and US President Barack Obama threatened to strike militarily at ISIS in Syria if it threatens the US in a speech Wednesday night. “This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe-haven,” the White House Twitter feed quoted Obama as saying.
The US has already launched more than 150 successful airstrikes on ISIS, Obama said, and such work will continue. The US will send in hundreds of more support personnel on the ground in Iraq in non-combat training roles. Still, the biggest news came on Syria.
If ISIS threatens the US, Obama said that they would “not hesitate to take action” against them in Syria. That’s significant, since Syria is a hostile nation to the US. Already, a US lawmaker has suggested passing legislation to give Obama a clear legal green light to strike ISIS in Syria. Obama called for Congress to further expand the US assistance to moderate rebels in that country’s civil war to help fight ISIS.
There’s good cause to handle ISIS, despite it’s being a world away. The battle with ISIS may be in Syria and Iraq today, but there’s a good chance it could move from there.
Obama said that there is no current specific threat to the US homeland from ISIS, but that if “left unchecked” ISIS could threaten America. He highlighted foreign fighters that have joined ISIS and said they could attempt to return to their home countries to carry out acts of violence.
Obama said ISIS is a “terrorist organization, pure and simple, and it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.”
Meanwhile, the US does not intend to carry out the war with ISIS on its own. It has already engaged other nations in the effort, and Obama said he plans to chair a United Nations Security Council meeting in two weeks to further the fight with ISIS.
“I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat,” said Obama.
He has high ambitions for the conflict with ISIS. The White House Twitter feed further quoted him as saying that “our objective is clear: We will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive & sustained counter-terrorism strategy.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, September 10, 2014)