Obama set to announce Islamic State strategy

United States President Obama will give a speech on Wednesday where he will explain his strategy to defeat the Islamic State.

Earlier, Obama said that he ‘has the authority’ to expand military action against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria without the approval of Congress.

In the White House on Tuesday, Obama met Democrats Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as well as Republicans John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader.

The White House said that that Obama pledged ‘continuing extensive consultation’ with the Congress leaders but suggested that he would not need their approval before expanding the United States’ operations against the Islamic State.

Obama has previously ruled out starting a ground operation in Iraq, but has hinted that he might expand US airstrikes in the region to include Islamic State targets in Syria. However, he will still need to get the approval of Congress if he plans to arm Syrian opposition forces.

"Over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of the Islamic State," Obama said on Sunday. "We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities; we're going to shrink the territory that they control; and, ultimately, we're going to defeat them."

France has also announced that it will host an international conference to discuss the situation in Iraq on 15 September.