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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is acknowledging that the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria is helping Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Obama tells CBS' "60 Minutes" he recognizes "the contradiction." But, according to the president, "in terms of immediate threats to the United States, ISIL, Khorasan Group — those folks could kill Americans."
ISIL is an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group, which has taken control of large sections of Iraq and Syria. The Khorasan Group is a cell of militants that the U.S. says is plotting attacks against the West in cooperation with the Nusra front, Syria's al-Qaida affiliate. Both groups have been targeted by U.S. airstrikes in recent days; together they constitute the most significant military opposition to Assad, whose government the U.S. would like to see gone.
Obama says his first priority is degrading the extremists who are threatening Iraq and the West.
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