Fight against ISIS will be long and challenging: White House

Washington, Dec 4: As Germany and Britain joined the US and France in military strike against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq, the White House has said the joint effort will ultimately destroy the terror outfit even though it will be a long and challenging fight.

"We all know this will be a long and challenging fight, but our coalition is united and resolute," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.

"We are striking at Islamic State's (ISIS) core in Iraq and in Syria, we are intensifying our support to local partners fighting ISIS on the ground, we are increasingly sinking our efforts to prevent foreign fighters from destroying our homelands," he said.

"We are intensifying our efforts to shut down ISIS's effort to finance their reign of terror," he added. The US and its 65 coalition partners, will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS, he said as he congratulated the UK on their strikes overnight against ISIS targets in Syria, and commend their ability to join this mission so quickly, following the parliamentary vote.

The US, he said, would welcome a constructive Russian contribution to its 65 member nation counter-ISIL coalition. "But Russia has different aims, apparently, if you look only at their military strategy. Now, they suggest that they support something else.

We would like to see Russia be more constructive in trying to confront this problem," the spokesman said. "The ongoing and intense military effort by the Russians to prop up a dictator inside of Syria, that is the root cause of so much chaos, makes it a little ironic for him to be pointing the finger at anyone else," he said.

PTI