"We will ultimately destroy ISIL" - Obama

President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday (September 10) to "ultimately destroy" Islamic State militants in a speech to Americans, laying out a strategy for expanding U.S. air strikes in Iraq and, for the first time, striking targets in Syria.

"As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people," Obama said.

"In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. They threatened a religious minority with genocide. In acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists - Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff," he said.

"Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy," Obama said. "First, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will