President Barrack Obama concluded the two-day Nuclear Security Summit by addressing the pressing need of world leaders to join forces and eliminate the terrorist operations of the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
The Obama Administration has taken an aggressive stance in its use of airstrikes in areas not marked as war zones, along with stepping up their attacks on Al-Qaeda and ISIS-led training camps that spew hundreds of trained "jihadis" in Yemen, Libya, and Somalia. These places typically face perennial political turmoil, thus providing ample opportunities for the terrorist groups to camp and set up their training dens. Obama further defended their action by stating that any mission led outside of earmarked war zones like Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq are generally aimed at "high-value targets" or suspected terrorist masterminds.
The president is well aware of the fact that the increased pressure might result in pushing the terrorists to lash out anywhere in anger, as seen in the recent attacks in Turkey and Brussels where innocent lives were lost. "This means that the sense of urgency that we've shown in destroying [the Islamic State] in Iraq and Syria also has to infuse our efforts to prevent attacks around the world," said Obama, directing this thought towards other world leaders present.
The president spoke of the importance of intelligence-sharing when it came to countering the increasing inflow of foreign terrorist groups. "We're all going to have to do more when it comes to intelligence-sharing. We simply cannot afford to have critical intelligence not being shared as needed – whether between governments or within governments," he stated.
The U.S. has already deployed special forces in Iraq and Syria to carry out raids against the IS groups. In Syria, the U.S. army has been working closely with the Kurdish-backed Syrian-Arab groups. In this strategic alliance with the Arabs, the U.S. is said to be supplying ammunition to them since October. Obama believes that with such strong measures, the Islamic State has started to lose out on their infrastructure, revenues, and mostly morale, although the appalling acts of violence are still a long way from cessation.
Photo: Austen Hufford | Flickr
