NEWPORT, Wales — President Barack Obama said Friday that a new NATO-directed coalition could reach out to some Syrian rebels as proxy fighters in an expanded push to battle Islamic State militants.
The potential outreach to the rebels, which would mark a significant shift in Western intervention inside Syria, is part of a multilayer effort to combat the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The tactics are expected to stretch beyond the battlefield, such as trying to disrupt the Islamic State’s recruiting and financial networks.
The 10-nation coalition, forged during a two-day NATO summit in Wales, represents the most far-reaching attempt to undercut the Islamic State factions controlling parts of northern Iraq and Syria.
“The bottom line is that we will do what is necessary” to confront the Islamic State, Obama said at a news conference.
He offered few details on what he described as a “systematic” push to weaken and “ultimately destroy” the Islamic State in its current strongholds in northern Iraq and parts of Syria.
The United States has already launched airstrikes seeking to slow the advance of the Islamic State in northern Iraq and bolster the defenses of Western-allied fighters in Iraq’s nearby Kurdish region.
Obama said there are no plans to deploy U.S. ground troops in the region, and he offered no indications whether aerial attacks on the Islamic State could extend to Syria. But Obama suggested that NATO partners could enlist “moderate” rebel forces in Syria to fight the Islamic State.
A senior Obama administration official said there was consensus among NATO allies that the goal to “destroy” the Islamic State would eventually require action in Syria. But the official said efforts would first concentrate on combating the Islamic State in Iraq.
