The United States is keen on extending its forces from Iraq to Syria to confront the growing strength of the notorious Islamic State (ISIS) fighters who recently beheaded American journalist James Foley.
President Barack Obama, infuriated over the brutal murder of Foley, is considering all options that will protect the Americans and other Western nations from ISIS’ threat, a top security official, reports the Los Angeles Times.
“We’re not going to be restricted by borders,” said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Ben Rhodes”]
If you come after Americans, we’re going to come after you wherever you are. And that’s what’s going to guide our planning in the days to come.
[/quote]
The U.S. would need to coordinate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the Western countries has been trying to unseat in the past three years.
But with the murder of Foley and the danger that the ISIS poses to the world, the U.S. may launch airstrikes and attacks even without Assad’s approval.
ISIS, whose headquarters is in the Syrian city of Raqqa, has established a “caliphate” between the borders of Syria and Iraq, which includes a population of six million people, Bloomberg reported.
The extremist militants are known for its brutal massacres–including beheading and crucifixion of their victims–in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities such as the Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, among others.
Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the U.S. said the Obama administration and other Western countries like Britain need to stop pushing for the overthrow of Assad and to work with the Syrian government instead.
“I can’t imagine the U.S. would risk their bombers and drones being shot down by Syrian fighter aircraft or ground-to-air missiles. To avoid that, U.S. strikes would need to be done in co-ordination with Assad. This in turn would require a political somersault of truly dramatic proportions,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
