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The briefing comes a little over a year after Islamic State militants burst out of Syria and captured much of northwestern Iraq, laying bare the frailty of Iraqi security forces and the vulnerability of the Baghdad government following the US military withdrawal in 2011.

Play video “22 May: Town Under I.S. Control”.

Separate from the Syrian Kurds, the United States is training about 190 moderate Syrians at sites in Jordan and Turkey with the aim of sending them back into battle to defend their hometowns against the Islamic State.

John McCain, R-Ariz., said the Obama administration’s failure to contain the Islamic State not only shows fundamental flaws in the president’s foreign policy but also should force a reassessment into whether USA forces are being withdrawn from Afghanistan too quickly.