Obama: ISIL Fight a ‘Difficult Mission’, Military: Air Strikes Alone Cannot Stop ISIL

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama conferred with commanders on the "difficult mission" against the so-called "Daesh" [ISIL] extremists on Wednesday as the US military warned that air power alone could not prevent the group from seizing a key Syrian border town.

After a meeting with top brass at the Pentagon, Obama said there would be no easy victory against the Daesh group but said a growing international coalition was resolved to confront the extremists rampaging in Iraq and Syria.

"Our strikes continue, alongside our partners. It remains a difficult mission," Obama, flanked by the country's most senior military officers, told reporters.

"As I've indicated from the start, this is not something that is going to be solved overnight," he said.

A Pentagon spokesman earlier offered a sober battlefield assessment, saying US air power on its own could not rescue the town of Kobane from an offensive by the Daesh extremists in northern Syria.

Moreover, American spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters that US-led aircraft were hitting the Daesh group at every opportunity but without a competent force on the ground to work with, there were limits to what could be accomplished by bombing from the air.

"Air strikes alone are not going to do this, not going to fix this, not going to save the town of Kobane," Kirby said.

"We know that. And we've been saying that over and over again," he said.

Ultimately, "capable" ground forces - "rebel fighters" in Syria and Iraqi government troops -- would have to defeat the ISIL group, but that would take time, he said.

The wording was unprecedented for Central Command which until now has provided terse summaries of air strikes without offering assessments of particular battles or indicated where the Daesh group may be gaining or losing.

Furthermore, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said tracking the militants presented a challenge.

"We have been striking when we can," Dempsey told ABC News in an interview.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team