Obama, Abadi to map 'long, long' fight against Islamic State
Source: Yahoo! News / AFP
Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama will huddle with Iraq's prime minister at the White House on Tuesday to plot crucial next steps in what US officials admit will be a long fight to defeat the Islamic State.
Obama will host Haider al-Abadi and try to forge a strategy to snatch back swaths of territory lost to jihadist fighters, after Iraqi forces' tough victory in Tikrit.
Even with the help of Iranian-backed Shiite militia, Iraq's crisis-ravaged military was unable to wrest control of the city without substantial US airstrikes to soften the ground.
A senior US official described the offensive in turn as "very difficult," and "a bit of a rollercoaster."
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