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World Leaders Press to 'Squeeze ISIS Out of Existence'

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The United States and United Kingdom are planning to strike back against the Islamic State terrorists who beheaded two American journalists.
    
At this week's NATO summit in Wales, President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and other world leaders say they'll help form a multi-national coalition for potential air strikes against ISIS.

"What we're closer to now is making sure we do everything we can to squeeze this dreadful organization out of existence," Cameron said.

Part of the strategy will involve arming and training Kurdish forces fighting against ISIS in northern Iraq.

"I think sometimes people think there is no strategy unless it simply consists of airstrikes," the British prime minister said. "That's not the case - what you need is a fully formed strategy to squeeze this from every angle."

***Why is the threat of ISIS getting so much attention at the NATO Summit in Wales? CBN News Senior Editor John Waage explains this and more.

The news comes as the FBI launches a manhunt for Ahmad Abousamra, an American suspected of producing slick ISIS videos used to recruit jihadists on social media.

The videos are a key part of the ISIS propaganda machine.

For example, experts say the recent footage of the beheadings of two American journalists shows that ISIS wants the world to know how brutal they are.

"The act of communication that follows the act of violence is almost as important as the act of violence itself," Peter Neuman, with Kings College in London, said.

Intelligence officials are also tracking about 100 other Americans who've joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq. Some who've been inspired by the radical Islamic terrorists are living in the United States.

"And that's the challenge is how do you identify those lone wolfs that are inspired by the actions of these horrific beheadings and neutralize them before they can walk into a soft target and carry out some sort of terrorist attack," Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence at the geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor, said.

With less than a week before the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, intelligence officials are seeing a significant spike in terror chatter.

Reports that 11 commercial airliners have gone missing from Libya's main airport and could be used by terrorists are only adding to concerns.

"The probability in the event that they could get those airborne would be using them to attack other targets, predominantly North Africa or in the Middle East," Burton said.

Meanwhile, India is on high alert after al Qaeda's top leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, warned in a video his group is opening a new front in the Indian sub-continent.

Terror analysts believe al Qaeda is a degraded force that is losing ground to ISIS and wants to recruit more followers.

"This is really a group today which is not some kind of a global threat, but a group that is struggling for its own survival and struggling for its legitimacy in the eyes of the radicalized Muslim world," Ajai Sahni, of the Institute for Conflict Management, said.

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About The Author

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George
Thomas

Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and of Indian descent, CBN News’ Senior International Correspondent and Co-Anchor, George Thomas, has been traveling the globe for more than 20 years, finding the stories of people, conflicts, and issues that must be told. He has reported from more than 100 countries and has had a front-row seat to numerous global events of our day. George’s stories of faith, struggle, and hope combine the expertise of a seasoned journalist with the inspiration of a deep calling to tell the stories of the people behind the news. “I’ve always liked discovering & exploring new