US
President Barack Obama will outline an expanded military and political
effort to combat the Islamic State armed group in Syria and Iraq, and
urge American legislators to quickly give him authority to arm Syrian
opposition forces.
Officials
in his administration said Obama will press forward with other elements
of his plan without authorisation from the US Congress.
The Associated Press news agency reported that could include air strikes in Iraq and possibly in Syria.
Other
elements of Obama’s plan include increased support for Iraqi security
forces, as well as military and diplomatic commitments from partners in
Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.
After an
hour-long discussion with congressional leaders Tuesday, the White House
said Obama told legislators that he has the authority he needs to take
action against the Islamic State.
The speech
will represent a chance for Obama to redress criticism that he has been
slow to respond to the Islamic State challenge, amid fears fighters
armed with Western passports could hit US targets.
Obama
dented his credibility two weeks ago when he admitted he did not yet
have a strategy to take on the Islamic State group in Syria.
But Al
Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington DC, said that Obama
has the support of the American public, with 91 percent of them viewing
the Islamic State as a threat to the US.
Obama started the work of creating an international coalition to take on the Islamic State at the NATO summit last week.
Chuck
Hagel, US defence secretary, has been in the Middle East, and John
Kerry, US secretary of state, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday to
accelerate the administration’s efforts.
On
Thursday, Kerry will head to Saudi Arabia to meet foreign ministers from
the Arab states to continue efforts to form a coalition against the
Islamic State group.
Mindful of
avoiding what he believes are the mistakes of the last decade, White
House officials said Obama will assure millions of television viewers
that he will not send conventional ground troops back to Iraq to fight a
group that has beheaded two US journalists.
The speech
will also lack a definitive timeline for US operations against Islamic
State fighters, after several reports cited senior officials as saying
they could outlast Obama’s presidency, which ends in January 2017.
“I think
the American people need to expect that this is something that will
require a sustained commitment,” Josh Earnest, White House spokesman,
said.
Obama, who
sees ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a centerpiece of his
legacy, is also under pressure to announce stepped-up support for
moderate rebels in Syria, despite his reluctance to intervening in
Syria’s civil war.
The US
wants to ensure that President Bashar al-Assad, who it regards as a war
criminal, does not benefit from any power vacuum left in the event that
US military action degrades the Islamic State.
