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President Barack Obama offered an update on the military mission against ISIS on Monday
"This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign. (ISIS) is opportunistic and it is nimble," Obama said
(CNN) —
President Barack Obama offered an update on the military mission against ISIS on Monday, emphasizing the long-term nature of the effort and the importance of local forces and stable governments as keys to stopping the terror group’s rise.
Obama pointed to the more than 5,000 air strikes against ISIS in Iraq, Syria and new regions like North Africa, and the efforts of a “galvanized” Iraqi government in the wake of the fall of Ramadi, as signs of stepped-up efforts against the terrorist group.
“This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign. (ISIS) is opportunistic and it is nimble,” Obama said, delivering remarks from the Pentagon.
Obama said the coalition is going after the “heart” of ISIS when it comes to both monetary and human resources. And he took the opportunity to prod Congress to confirm Adam Szubin as Treasury Department under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, to aid the effort to stop money flowing to ISIS.
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Though the President said U.S.-trained troops have made progress at rolling back ISIS gains across Iraq and Syria in recent months, he added there are no plans to send more U.S. troops to the region. Obama emphasized that regional security forces will have to play a leading role in the anti-ISIS effort.
“The strong consensus is that in order for us to succeed long-term in this fight against (ISIS), we have to develop local security forces that can sustain progress. It is not enough for us to simply send in American troops to temporarily set back organizations like (ISIS), but then as soon as we leave see that void filled again by extremists,” Obama said.
“If we try to do everything ourselves all across the Middle East, all across North Africa, we’ll be playing whack-a-mole and there’ll be a whole lot of unintended consequences that ultimately make us less secure,” he said.
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He also cast the fight against ISIS as a generational struggle. The President said success depends on “Muslim communities, including scholars and clerics, rejecting warped interpretations of Islam and protecting their sons and daughters from recruitment. “
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Wounded passengers are treated following a suicide bombing at the Brussels Airport on March 22, 2016. The attacks on the airport and a subway killed 32 people and wounded more than 300. ISIS claims its "fighters" launched the attacks in the Belgian capital.
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Syrians gather at the site of a double car bomb attack in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood of the Homs, Syria, on February 21, 2016. Multiple attacks in Homs and southern Damascus kill at least 122 and injure scores, according to the state-run SANA news agency. ISIS claimed responsibility.
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Syrian pro-government forces gather at the site of a deadly triple bombing Sunday, January 31, in the Damascus suburb of Sayeda Zeynab. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement circulating online from supporters of the terrorist group.
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Yemenis check the scene of a car bomb attack Sunday, December 6, in Aden, Yemen. Aden Gov. Jaafar Saad and six bodyguards died in the attack, for which the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility.
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AP
Investigators check the scene of a mosque attack Friday, November 27, in northern Bangladesh's Bogra district. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack that left at least one person dead and three more wounded.
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Wounded people are helped outside the Bataclan concert hall in Paris following a series of coordinated attacks in the city on Friday, November 13. The militant group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed at least 130 people and wounded hundreds more.
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Emergency personnel and civilians gather at the site of a twin suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, on Thursday, November 12. The bombings killed at least 43 people and wounded more than 200 more. ISIS appeared to claim responsibility in a statement posted on social media.
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Smoke rises over the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar on November 12. Kurdish Iraqi fighters, backed by a U.S.-led air campaign, retook the strategic town, which ISIS militants overran last year. ISIS wants to create an Islamic state across Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria.
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Syrian government troops walk inside the Kweiras air base on Wednesday, November 11, after they broke a siege imposed by ISIS militants.
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Members of the Egyptian military approach the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane Sunday, November 1, in Hassana, Egypt. The plane crashed the day before, killing all 224 people on board. ISIS claimed responsibility for downing the plane, but the group's claim wasn't immediately verified.
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An explosion rocks Kobani, Syria, during a reported car bomb attack by ISIS militants on Tuesday, October 20.
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Shiite fighters, fighting alongside Iraqi government forces, fire a rocket at ISIS militants as they advance toward the center of Baiji, Iraq, on Monday, October 19.
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Smoke rises above a damaged building in Ramadi, Iraq, following a coalition airstrike against ISIS positions on Saturday, August 15.
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Iraqi men look at damage following a bomb explosion that targeted a vegetable market in Baghdad on Thursday, August 13. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
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From ISIS
In this image taken from social media, an ISIS fighter holds the group's flag after the militant group overran the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn on Thursday, August 6, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. ISIS uses modern tools such as social media to promote reactionary politics and religious fundamentalism. Fighters are destroying holy sites and valuable antiquities even as their leaders propagate a return to the early days of Islam.
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From ISIS
An ISIS fighter poses with spoils purportedly taken after capturing the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn.
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Smoke rises as Iraqi security forces bomb ISIS positions in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi, Iraq, on August 6.
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Buildings reduced to piles of debris can be seen in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi on August 6.
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The governor of the Asir region in Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz, left, visits a man who was wounded in a suicide bombing attack on a mosque in Abha, Saudi Arabia, on August 6. ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosion, which killed at least 13 people and injured nine others.
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Saudi officials and investigators check the inside of the mosque on August 6.
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Mourners in Gaziantep, Turkey, grieve over a coffin Tuesday, July 21, during a funeral ceremony for the victims of a suspected ISIS suicide bomb attack. That bombing killed at least 31 people in Suruc, a Turkish town that borders Syria. Turkish authorities blamed ISIS for the attack.
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Protesters in Istanbul carry anti-ISIS banners and flags to show support for victims of the Suruc suicide blast during a demonstration on Monday, July 20.
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People in Ashmoun, Egypt, carry the coffin for 1st Lt. Mohammed Ashraf, who was killed when the ISIS militant group attacked Egyptian military checkpoints on Wednesday, July 1. At least 17 soldiers were reportedly killed, and 30 were injured.
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Syrians wait near the Turkish border during clashes between ISIS and Kurdish armed groups in Kobani, Syria, on Thursday, June 25. The photo was taken in Sanliurfa, Turkey. ISIS militants disguised as Kurdish security forces infiltrated Kobani on Thursday and killed "many civilians," said a spokesman for the Kurds in Kobani.
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Residents examine a damaged mosque after an Iraqi Air Force bombing in the ISIS-seized city of Falluja, Iraq, on Sunday, May 31. At least six were killed and nine others wounded during the bombing.
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EPA/STR/LANDOV
People search through debris after an explosion at a Shiite mosque in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, May 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, according to tweets from ISIS supporters, which included a formal statement from ISIS detailing the operation.
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Iraqi soldiers fire their weapons toward ISIS group positions in the Garma district, west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, on Sunday, April 26. Pro-government forces said they had recently made advances on areas held by Islamist jihadists.
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A member of Afghanistan's security forces stands at the site where a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up in front of the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Saturday, April 18. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The explosion killed at least 33 people and injured more than 100 others, a public health spokesman said.
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Iraqi counterterrorism forces patrol in Ramadi on April 18.