President says militants are ‘opportunistic, nimble’; warns threat of ‘lone wolf’ attacks within US has grown
Obama said Monday the US-led coalition battling Islamic State jihadists was “intensifying” its campaign against the group’s base in Syria, but cautioned the fight would be long.
Obama addressed the media after a briefing at the Pentagon with top military brass and members of his national security team on efforts to dismantle the jihadist group.
The high-level talks came after coalition air strikes that hit the Islamic State group’s de facto capital Raqqa in Syria over the weekend — some of the heaviest bombing since it began targeting IS in Syria in September last year.
“We’re intensifying our efforts against ISIL’s base in Syria. Our air strikes will continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations,” Obama told reporters, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group.
“We’re going after the ISIL leadership and infrastructure in Syria, the heart of ISIL that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world.”
But Obama cautioned the fight would likely face “setbacks.”
“This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign,” he said, calling IS fighters “opportunistic” and “nimble.”
“In many places in Syria and Iraq, it’s dug in among an innocent civilian population. It will take time to root them out. As with any military effort, there will be periods of progress, but there are also going to be some setbacks.”
Flanked by top military commanders, Obama also warned of the Islamic State’s efforts to recruit and inspire vulnerable people in the United States, and called on the American Muslim community to “step up in terms of pushing back as hard as they can.”
He said that while the US was now better prepared to thwart large-scale terrorist attacks like 9/11, the threat from individual “lone wolves” or small terrorist cells has increased.
“We’re going to have to pick up our game to prevent these attacks,” Obama said.
Obama said more than 5,000 air strikes had been carried out against the group, eliminating “thousands of fighters, including senior ISIL commanders.”
Obama said more needed to be done to train government forces and Sunni tribal fighters in Iraq, as well as moderate Syrian rebels.
The announcement of the coalition air strikes on Raqqa came after IS released a video showing teenage members executing 25 Syrian soldiers in an amphitheater in the ancient ruins of Palmyra.
Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the weekend strikes were not aimed at particular IS figures, but were part of an effort to help Kurdish forces and “limit ISIL freedom of movement.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said the raids killed at least 30 people, among them six civilians including a child.
Kurdish forces have in recent months been involved in heavy fighting against the Islamic State group.
Obama said: “Over the past year, we’ve seen when we have an effective partner on the ground, ISIL can be pushed back.
“ISIL’s strategic weaknesses are real,” Obama said, noting it has no air force and no support from any nation.
More than a year after IS fighters overran much of Iraq, the United States and its allies are struggling to turn the tide against the extremists in an air campaign known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
The average daily price tag is $9.2 million and the campaign had cost $2.91 billion as of June 18, according to the Defense Department.
Carter was due to testify in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday to discuss the campaign, which has come under renewed criticism from US lawmakers.
The Pentagon last month said it was sending 450 additional US troops to act as advisers to help Iraqi forces seize back control of the western city of Ramadi from jihadist fighters. The president said he currently had no plans to send more US troops to Iraq beyond that number.
Efforts to train local forces in Iraq and Syria have been slow to take shape. Last month, Obama acknowledged that the US lacks a “complete strategy” for training Iraqi troops to carry out ground missions. And in Syria, fewer than 100 rebels are being trained by the US, far fewer than the goal of producing 5,400 fighters a year.
As reported by The Times of Israel