Obama administration considering targeting ISIS in Syria
President Obama is considering air strikes in Syria to target ISIS strongholds and its supply lines into Iraq. There is no timetable for this new mission but senior officials appear more alarmed than ever about the ISIS threat.
Two weeks ago, the White House said new military action in Iraq would not spill into Syria. Now, the goal of thwarting emerging terror plots against Americans and taking on ISIS "knows no borders."
The administration has talked about arming so-called moderate forces in Syria to fight ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq, and there is more willingness to do that now than ever before. But the president's request for $500 million for equipment and training stalled in Congress, leaving air strikes the only immediate direct military option.
What the White House says is Congress needs to move forward on this and having declared the videotaped beheading of James Foley the first act of ISIS terrorism against the United States, that action may soon follow.