WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama seemed poised to authorise air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria yesterday, ahead of a speech to brace his nation for a long duel with the jihadists.
In a much-anticipated White House address, Obama was also expected to announce a plan to rebuild Iraq’s splintered army.
He called the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, a pivotal member of the coalition he is building to battle IS, and gathered top defence and intelligence chiefs, while finalising a strategy for the kind of prolonged new intervention in the Middle East he has always abhorred.
Obama will use his speech at 0100 GMT today to warn that the fight against IS could be prolonged. “You will hear from the President how the US will pursue a comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy IS,” an official said. The plan will include US military action against Islamic State forces and new support for the opposition in Syria and the new government in Iraq. The New York Times said Obama was ready to sign off on air strikes in Syria to compliment those carried out on Islamic State targets in Iraq. AFP
