WASHINGTON // President Barack Obama authorised US airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of “a steady, relentless effort” to root out ISIL and their spreading reign of terror.
Mr Obama announced on Wednesday night that he was dispatching nearly 500 more US troops to Iraq to assist its security services, bringing the total number of American forces sent there this summer to more than 1,500.
He also urged Congress to authorise a programme to train and arm Syrian rebels who are fighting both ISIL militants and Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
“We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are,” Mr Obama declared in an address to the nation from the White House. “This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven.”
Mr Obama’s plans amounted to a striking shift for a president who rose to political prominence in part because of his early opposition to the Iraq war.
While in office, he has steadfastly sought to wind down American military campaigns in the Middle East and avoid new wars – particularly in Syria where the chaos of an intractable civil war has given ISIL opportunities to thrive and move freely across the border with Iraq.
Speaking on the eve of the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Mr Obama insisted he was not returning US combat troops to the Middle East.
He acknowledged that “any time we take military action, there are risks involved, especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions”.
“But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil,” he said.
The president’s announcements follow a summer of deliberation at the White House over how to respond to ISIL militants.
While administration officials have said they are not aware of a credible threat of a potential attack by the militants in the US, they say the group poses risks to Americans and interests across the Middle East.
Officials are also concerned about the prospect that Westerners, including Americans, who have joined the militant group could return to their home countries to launch attacks.
In recent weeks, the militants have released videos depicting the beheading of two American journalists in Syria. The violent images appear to have had an impact on a formerly war-weary public, with multiple polls in recent days showing that the majority of Americans now support airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria.
The US began launching limited airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq on August 8 at the request of former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki.
But Mr Obama vowed that he would not commit the US to a deeper military campaign until Iraq formed a new government that was more inclusive of Sunnis – a step Iraqi leaders took on Tuesday.
Officials said Mr Obama plans to proceed with both the broader airstrikes in Iraq and the strikes in Syria without seeking new authorisation from Congress. Instead, he is to act under a use-of-force authorisation Congress passed in the days after 9/11 to give President George W Bush the ability to go after those who perpetrated the terror attacks.
Mr Obama has previously called for that authorisation to be repealed, but he has also used it as support for strikes against terror targets in Yemen and Somalia.
He compared the new US mission in Iraq and Syria to the actions in Yemen and Somalia, campaigns that have gone on for years.
“This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground,” he said.
Mr Obama is seeking authorisation from Congress for a Pentagon-led effort to train and arm more moderate elements of the Syrian opposition. Even before his remarks, congressional leaders were grappling with whether to support that request and if so, how to get such a measure through the fractured legislature before the November elections.
While the CIA currently runs a small programme to arm the rebels, the new version would be more robust.
Mr Obama asked Congress earlier this year to approve a US$500 million (Dh1.8 billion) programme to expand the effort and put it under Pentagon control, but the request stalled on Capitol Hill.
Some of Mr Obama’s own advisers, including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, pressed him to arm the rebels early in their fight against Mr Al Assad.
But Mr Obama resisted, arguing that there was too much uncertainty about the composition of the rebel forces. He also expressed concern about adding more firepower to an already bloody civil war.
The White House announced on Wednesday that it was also providing $25m in immediate military assistance to the Iraqi government as part of efforts to combat ISIL.
The treasury department will also step up efforts to undermine ISIL’s finances. David Cohen, treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote in a blog post that the US would be working with other countries, especially Gulf states, to cut off the group’s external funding networks and its access to the global financial system.
The US has been pressing allies in Europe and the Middle East to help with efforts to degrade the terror group.
Secretary of state John Kerry is travelling to Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week. He first made a stop in Baghdad to meet with Iraq’s new leaders and pledge US support for eliminating the extremist group.
France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country was ready to take part in airstrikes against extremist fighters in Iraq if needed. And the German government announced that it was sending assault rifles, ammunition, anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicles to Kurdish forces in Iraq fighting, breaking with Berlin’s previous reluctance to send weapons into conflicts.
* Associated Press