President Barack Obama ordered the United States into an expanded military effort to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants in a televised address to the nation Wednesday night. Obama authorized airstrikes inside Syria for the first time as well as an expansion of strikes in Iraq. Obama also announced he was dispatching nearly 500 more U.S. troops to Iraq to assist that country’s security forces, but vowed the U.S. will not re-enter a ground war in the region.
Obama aims to degrade and destroy Islamic group
President vows no new US ground forces in Iraq