Obama warns Islamic State ‘you are next’

President Barack Obama on Monday led a strategy session at the Pentagon in Washington aimed at finding new ways to defeat the extremist group known as the Islamic State.

Obama pointed out that ISIS has lost 40% of the populated areas that it once controlled in Iraq, and that ground forces working toward retaking Ramadi and encircling Fallujah to cut off ISIS’ supply route into the major Iraqi city it controls, Mosul.

Mr Obama held a meeting with his top military advisors at the Pentagon, where he said there had now been almost 9,000 air strikes and IS was being hit “harder than ever”.

He boasted that last month the U.S. had dropped more bombs on IS than it had in any other month since the campaign ended in September 2014, and that IS had not enjoyed a battlefield success over the summer.

His announcement comes several days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California and almost a month after multiple coordinated attacks in Paris, a time at which he faces pressure to convince Americans he is taking all measures to keep them safe.

After a series of setbacks, the US and its coalition partners have claimed recent progress in wresting back territory from the Islamic State and eliminating some of its key leaders in Syria and Iraq.

The President also announced that Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is departing to the Middle East, where he will meet with US allies who are fighting against the Islamic State.

“We are hitting ISIL harder than ever”, the president said, using the government’s acronym for Islamic State.

Obama says the USA would “continue to lead” the coalition of over 60 nations.

“The point is ISIL leaders can’t hide and our next message to them is you are next”, asserted the president.

Mr Obama is also slated to attend a briefing at the National Counterterrorism Centre later in the week.

“Our strategy is moving forward with a great sense of urgency”, Obama said after meeting at the Defense Department with his national security team.

That is a major shift since Obama’s first term in the White House, when he was hailed for authorizing a high-risk special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

US officials have insisted there are no specific, credible threats to the United States.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is bound for Moscow, where he will discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the prospects for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian civil war.

Obama confirmed that American special forces were now in Syria and were helping local groups squeeze IS’ proclaimed “capital” at Raqqa.