Obama lays out plan to destroy ISIS: air strikes into Syria, no ground troops - Hindustan Times

US President Barack Obama delivers a live televised address to the nation on his plans for military action against the Islamic State, from the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington. (Reuters Photo)

President Barack Obama went before the American people on Wednesday to lay out his plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State militants who have seized control of a huge stretch of Syria and Iraq. A look at his plan, the extremists and the campaign to defeat them.

The strategy

Obama wants to step up both military and diplomatic efforts to counter the extremists in Iraq and Syria. That means arming Syrian opposition forces and extending US air strikes into Syria. The US is already bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq.

The president also said he would send another 475 US troops into Iraq to advise that country's forces, but insists they are not combat troops. And he's pressing for an expanded global coalition of at least 40 nations united against the militants, with Canada, Australia, numerous European countries, Sunni Arab allies and Nato member Turkey playing leading roles. Arab countries are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to discuss a parallel coalition.

Congress' role

There will be plenty of debate in coming days about how much say Congress has in all of this. Already, house Republicans have rebuffed Obama's requests for explicit approval to train and equip Syrian rebels, although the Senate may give its go ahead.

On the broader campaign to defeat the Islamic State group, Obama says he has the authority to proceed on his own. But there are mixed opinions about that within Congress.

The militants

The Islamic State group has seized one-third of Syria and Iraq and wants to create an Islamic state, or caliphate, ruled by a strict form of Shariah law that orders women to stay inside their homes, bans music and punishes thieves by cutting off their hands, among other restrictions.

Formerly known as al Qaida in Iraq, it is a Sunni-led group that emerged from the sectarian violence of the Iraq War and the Syrian civil war. In 2004, the US state department classified it a terrorist organisation.

The group, which recently beheaded two American journalists, has developed such a brutal reputation that in February it was disavowed even by the core al Qaida organisation. ISIS and ISIL are older acronyms for the same organisation.

The threat

The Obama administration doesn't think the militants pose any immediate threat of an attack in the US But it believes the group is a threat to the Middle East and could attack US targets overseas. The US also worries about the group training and radicalizing Americans who could later return to attack America.

The response, so far

The US already has launched about 150 airstrikes on Islamic State targets inside Iraq, at the invitation of the Iraqi government. It also has sent military advisers, supplies and humanitarian aid to help Iraqi troops and Kurdish forces beat back the insurgents.