By: Ricard Meyer ~Copy Editor~

In a nationally televised speech from the White House, President Barack Obama addressed the rising tension with the terrorist organization known as ISIS in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to update the public on the current situation.

On Sept. 10, Obama outlined the planned increase in U.S. military aid. The role of the U.S. military is part of an international support effort for the Iraqi forces.

As a part of this aid, 475 American military advisers will be sent to Iraq, increasing the total involvement to about 1,700 persons.

President Obama assured the listeners that the increased aid is different from a full war, as the U.S. withdrew its troops in Iraq less than three years ago. “It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign
soil,” Obama said.

However, some Obama Administration officials have been referring to the involvement as a “war.” Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. was “at war”
with ISIS in an interview with CBS after previously referring to it as a “counterterrorism operation.”

Following Obama’s address, a video was released of a British aid worker, David Haines, being beheaded by ISIS on Sept. 13. Haines was abducted in Syria in 2013.

This was the third video of its kind to be released by the terror group. “We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition of nations from the region and around the world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act
to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world,” Obama said in response to the video.