Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A media barrage culminated last night in President Barack Obama's speech to the nation promising to expand the offensive against the Islamic state (IS). In a 15-minute message, broadcast at primetime (9 pm), on the eve of 9/11 (the anniversary of the attack on New York's Twin Towers), Obama guaranteed a systematic campaign of airstrikes against IS targets "wherever they are", in Iraq or in Syria; more counter-terrorism efforts to cut off the group's funding and help stem the flow of fighters into the Middle East and increased aid to refugees.
All this will happen without "being dragged into another ground war",
in short no troops will be sent on the ground. There will be only 475
new military experts to advise the Iraqi
army and Kurdish peshmerga
in their fight against the Islamists.
Before his speech, Obama spoke on the phone with Saudi King Abdullah and stressed that Saudi Arabia is a key member of the international coalition
that the United States wants to build against the
jihadist movement. In fact today,
the Secretary of State, John Kerry, will visit the king
in Riyadh.
The Obama plan seems to be tailored to the Saudi expectations. The Arabian monarchy sees IS as its greatest enemy, putting a strain on their government from the political and religious perspective. But they are also competing with "secular" governments (even if dictatorial), such as Syria, and with "Shiite" governments like Iran, with its populist Islamic policy.
Perhaps this is why Obama, has
ruled out Syria and Iran in his
anti-IS coalition. But he went even further: under his new strategy he
has asked Congress to authorize the
Department of Defense to train and fund the rebel forces fighting Assad, to the tune of 500 million dollars. This
should bolster their battle against the former Isis,
but at the same time strengthen their fight against Damascus.
All this perhaps will
- as the
president said - "reduce
and eventually destroy" the militants of the Islamic state, but
it will make the situation in the Middle East even more
complicated and tense.