US must do more to counter ISIS propaganda, says top general
US must do more to counter ISIS propaganda, says top general
US President Barack Obama voiced fresh determination to destroy the ISIS on Monday, vowing to kill the group’s leaders and win back territory in the Middle East.
Sounding a notably more strident tone, Mr Obama said that the United States and its allies were taking the fight to ISIS extremists in Iraq and Syria, but admitted that progress needed to come faster. “We are hitting ISIL harder than ever,” said Mr Obama, in a second address following the seemingly ISIS-influenced attack in San Bernardino, California that has raised questions about his strategy.
“As we squeeze its heart, we’ll make it harder for ISIL to pump its terror and propaganda to the rest of the world,” Mr Obama insisted at the Pentagon, after meeting top military and national security advisors. Listing eight ISIS figures killed in coalition operations, Mr Obama issued a stern warning. “ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple: You are next.” Mr Obama said that US special forces were now in Syria and were helping local groups squeeze the ISIS group’s proclaimed “capital” at Raqqa. He said Iraqi forces were moving to take Ramadi “encircle Fallujah and cut off ISIS’s supply routes into Mosul.” From the air, Mr Obama said the US and its allies had begun targeting “oil infrastructure, destroying hundreds of their tanker trucks, wells and refineries.”
Meanwhile, America is coming up far short in its efforts to counter ISIS propaganda, and the jihadists’ messages often resonate with younger people, the US military’s top general warned Monday. “I think we probably do get a C-minus or D in terms of doing it right now,” General Joe Dunford said. Gen. Dunford said people in the West tend to overlook the power of ISIS on social media — even as the jihadists’ propaganda captures the imagination of some.
US defence secretary Ash Carter urged Turkey on Tuesday to do more to help destroy ISIS militants as he kicked off a tour of the Middle East that aims to drum up regional support for the military campaign.
Speaking to reporters while travelling to the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, Mr Carter said Ankara needed to better control its border with Syria, particularly a roughly 98-km stretch bel-ieved to be used by ISIS for illicit trade and for shuttling foreign fighters back and forth. “Turkey has an enormous role to play,” said Mr Carter, on his first trip to Incirlik as defence secretary.
