With the US President Barack Obama ruling out sending combat troops to Iraq to fight Islamic State militants, the White House today said the alternative is to enhance the capabilities of the Syrian Opposition forces which can take head on the terrorist outfit.
"The President has ruled out the use of American combat troops for that purpose, so the alternative is to enhance the capability of Syrian opposition fighters so that they can take the fight to ISIL in their own country," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.
For this, he said, a large number of countries have joined hands with the US to meet this challenge being posed by ISIL.
"We do have willing partners. Saudi Arabia, as you know, has already announced the willingness to host some of these training operations, at least," Earnest said in response to a question.
The administration wants to work closely with regional governments and other allies who have made commitments to assist in this effort, he said, adding that the White House is eager to get this programme up and running.
"And that's why we are hoping and pleased to seek bipartisan support for giving the administration this authority before the end of the week," he said.
Earnest said there have been intensive conversations between senior administration officials and their counterparts in the region and also across the globe.
"The thing that's important to understand is that we want to try and do this in an integrated way that is as efficient as possible, that we don't just sort of want people to announce one-off commitments without making sure that they are announcing those commitments in a coordinated way that we want to make sure that we have all of the boxes checked in terms of what our needs are," he said.
Earnest said based on the favourable response that the US is receiving from its allies in these discussions, the White House will at some point be able to announce important commitments from its allies and from regional governments.
"We are seeing very constructive engagement from regional governments that do have a significant stake in this outcome. We're pleased with the level of conversations that we're having with these governments and their willingness to contribute in a tangible, important way to this broader effort," he said.
"We'll have some announcements to make in terms of what sort of cooperation and involvement and commitment that we have from the international community. And based on the tenor and tone of the kinds of private conversations that are underway right now, we expect those commitments to be substantial," Earnest said.
