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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. “
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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Ketevan Kardava/Getty Images
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images
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Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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Wael Qubady/AP
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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YOAN VALAT/EPA/LANDOV
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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Bilal Hussein/AP
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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Bram Janssen/AP
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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SANA/AP
Syrian government troops walk inside the Kweiras air base on Wednesday, November 11, after they broke a siege imposed by ISIS militants.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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Maxim Grigoriev/Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations/AP
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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Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images
An explosion rocks Kobani, Syria, during a reported car bomb attack by ISIS militants on Tuesday, October 20.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
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AP
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AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
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.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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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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AP
Smoke rises as Iraqi security forces bomb ISIS positions in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi, Iraq, on August 6.
Photos: The ISIS terror threat
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AP
Buildings reduced to piles of debris can be seen in the eastern suburbs of Ramadi on August 6.