U.S. mobilizes allies to expand assaults on ISIS in Syria, Iraq

The U.S. is reportedly mobilizing a broad coalition of allies to expand air assaults on the ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq.

According to the New York Times, administration officials said U.S. President Barack Obama was broadening his campaign against the Sunni militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and nearing a decision to authorize airstrikes and airdrops of food and water around the northern Iraqi town of Amerli, home to members of Iraq Turkmen minority.

The town, with a population of 12,000 has been under the ISIS control for more than two months now.

On Tuesday, Obama said in a speech to the American Legion in Charlotte, N.C. that rooting out a cancer like ISIL won't be easy and would take time.

He said that the U.S. was building a coalition to take the fight to these barbaric terrorists," and that the militants would be "no match" for a united international community.

Obama, earlier, had authorized the use of drones for surveillance in Syria despite President Bashar al-Assad demanding that the U.S. seek permission before launching any air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants within its territory.

A senior U.S. official confirmed the same and said that the decision is the first intrusive action by the nation in Syria since the civil war began, reported Fox News.

The report said that the question of whether Washington should authorize air strikes in Syria had assumed significance in recent days in the aftermath of the beheading of American journalist James Foley by ISIS.