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Obama Coalition Takes Shape As Congress Backs Him


Obama Coalition Takes Shape As Congress Backs Him
folder_openAmericas... access_time9 years ago
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US President Barack Obama on Thursday hailed Congress for backing his plan to arm Syrian armed groups and France for signing off on air strikes in Iraq, victories for his campaign to destroy the "ISIL" group.


Obama Coalition Takes Shape As Congress Backs HimUS warplanes meanwhile hit an "ISIL" group training camp in Iraq in their first strike not directly supporting Iraqi or Kurdish forces.

In a rare moment of bipartisanship in divided Washington, the Senate voted 78 to 22 to endorse Obama's plan, already passed by the House of Representatives, to arm armed groups to take on "ISIL" in conjunction with air strikes the president has pledged to carry out inside Syria.

Minutes after the vote, Obama appeared on television, keen to claim a swift victory for his strategy, as polls show Americans support striking "ISIL" but are not sure that it will work.
"I want to thank leaders in Congress for the speed and seriousness with which they approached this urgent issue," said Obama.

"These terrorists thought they could frighten us, or intimidate us, or cause us to shrink from the world," he said.
"But today they're learning the same hard lesson of petty tyrants and terrorists who have gone before."

French President Francois Hollande said that France would join the United States in conducting air strikes against the "ISIL"- but only in Iraq.
"As soon as we have identified targets, we will act... within a short timeframe," he vowed.
Obama praised the move by one of America's "oldest and closest allies" which was a boost for his claims to be building a broad international coalition to take on "ISIL".

Even as Congress voted to endorse Obama's plan to train the so-called "moderate rebels", it was unclear exactly who would benefit.

Washington estimates that "ISIL" has 20,000 to 31,000 fighters, including many foreigners, and there are concerns that returning extremists could carry out attacks in Western countries.

Australia said it had detained 15 people in connection with a plot to behead random civilians, in the country's largest ever counter-terrorism raids.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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