Tuesday, 9 September 2014

Obama To Brief Congress On IS Fight

President Barack Obama will meet Congressional leaders on Tuesday to outline his case for an expanded military campaign against Islamic State militants in iraq and Syria.

He will discuss his strategy with leaders from both parties in the White House at 15:00 local (20:00 GMT).

This comes ahead of his speech to the nation on Wednesday night.

It is not clear whether the president will need Congressional authorisation for an increased military role.

Tuesday’s meeting with Congressional leaders comes a year after lawmakers blocked Mr Obama’s previous plans for missile strikes against Syria.

Since then, the IS jihadist group has taken control of large swathes of iraq and Syria.

In June it declared the creation of a “caliphate” or Islamic state.

In the past month, IS militants have beheaded two US journalists in protest against American airstrikes on its forces in iraq.

Mr Obama has ruled out the possibility of a US ground operation against IS but has signalled he may expand airstrikes to include Syria.

“Over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of [IS],” he said on Sunday. “We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities; we’re going to shrink the territory that they control; and, ultimately, we’re going to defeat them.”

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