Obama 'to strike IS wherever it exists'

US president to outline plans to destroy Islamic State group, which operates in Iraq and Syria.

Obama will be laying out his plan to deepen the US military role in the Middle East [EPA]

US President Barack Obama is expected to annouce that the United States will wage a military campaign that will target Islamic State fighters with air strikes “wherever they exist". This indicates the US will expand its air campaign across the Iraqi border to Islamic State targets in Syria. Obama will deliver a major address on Wednesday evening laying out his plan to deepen the US military role in the Middle East. In excerpts released in advance, Obama says the US will lead a broad coalition to degrade and then destroy the self-declared jihadist fighters. Obama says the campaign would not involve US combat troops on the ground. Obama, in the speech, is expected to compare the US plans for the Islamic State to Washington's counterterrorism efforts in Yemen and Somalia. The US has launched drone strikes in those countries for years. The US is already launching air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq 'Will not sit and watch' Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the international community will not sit and watch the Islamic State grow. He identified Iraq as a key partner in the fight against the group. "We all have an interest in supporting the new government of Iraq at this particular critical junction," Kerry said during a visit to Baghdad on Wednesday. He said an international coalition to confront the Islamic State "will continue to grow and deepen in the days ahead. "That is because the United States and the world will simply not stand by to watch as [the Islamic State's] evil spreads." Kerry said, using an alternative acronym for Islamic State. The Islamic State group has taken control of large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria. The group's brutal campaign has included beheadings of rivals and killings of hundreds of members of Iraq's minorities.

Source: Agencies