Ahead of a meeting with his national security team, President Obama said Thursday that the administration does not yet have a strategy for dealing with ISIS in Syria.
He said that the U.S. has continued with targeted airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, but said that no imminent action against Syria is planned.
Obama said that he will send Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East and emphasized that the U.S. needs to work with other actors in the region.
“We’re going to have to build a regional strategy,” he said.
While he didn’t lay out a concrete strategy, he said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad has been unable “to bring peace and stability” to the region.
“The violence that’s been taking place in Syria has obviously given ISIL a safe haven there,” Obama said.
The President also noted that it is “unrealistic” to think that the U.S. will “perpetually defeat ISIS.”
“In the end [Iraqis are] going to be responsible for their own security,” he said.