U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday said that while the United States is sending more forces to combat Islamic State in Iraq, it is not following the model of its 2003 invasion of the country that locked it in violent conflict there for many years.
"We're not going to do an Iraq-style invasion of Iraq or Syria with battalions that are moving across the desert," he said in an interview with CBS.
"But what I've been very clear about is that we are going to systematically squeeze and ultimately destroy ISIL and that requires us having a military component to that."
In the interview, Obama acknowledged that U.S. special forces alone would not be able to destroy the militant group but said they could provide additional intelligence, work with local forces and help direct air strikes.