Pentagon strategists are putting final touches on a stepped-up battle plan against Islamic State and are due to offer President Trump options as early as Monday to accelerate the war against the militants in Iraq and Syria, officials said. Trump has vowed repeatedly to “defeat” Islamic State but has never spelled out what that means in a conflict with multiple countries backing competing factions in two separate wars — or how to ultimately stabilize the turbulent region. “This is about a trans-regional threat.”While Defense Secretary James N. Mattis will present the review to the White House. U.S. analysts said they don’t expect the new plan to differ dramatically from the Obama administration’s approach, at least in Iraq. Islamic State “is losing territory bit by bit so you might see changes around the edges, but it’s hard to imagine the administration will want to completely deviate from the current plan,” he added.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 24, 2017 21:34 UTC