US reassessing resistance to military action in Syria

Published 3:34 pm Saturday, August 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — A senior White House official raised the possibility Friday of a broader American military campaign that targets an Islamic extremist group’s bases in Syria, saying the U.S would take whatever action is necessary to protect national security.

“We’re not going to be restricted by borders,” said Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

The White House said the president has received no military options beyond those he authorized earlier this month for limited airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and military aid to Iraqi and Kurdish forces. Thus far, the United States has avoided military involvement in Syria’s three-year civil war. But faced with the Islamic State making gains across the region and the beheading of an American journalist, the administration’s resistance may be weakening.

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Rhodes spoke a day after Obama’s top military adviser warned the extremists cannot be defeated without “addressing” their sanctuary in Syria.

Many prominent Republicans and some Democrats have called on Obama to hit back harder at the Islamic State militants.