United States President, Barack Obama, has acknowledged that U.S agencies underestimated the threat posed by the Islamist insurgency in Syria.
In a frank TV interview, he said that al-Qaeda had been beaten in Iraq by U.S forces working with Sunni tribes.
But they took advantage of the power vacuum in neighbouring Syria to emerge as ISIS, later called Islamic State.
Meanwhile, there has been fierce fighting to the west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Air strikes helped Iraqi fighters repel an attack at Ameriyat al-Fallujah, a strategic town 40km (25 miles) outside Baghdad.
In a separate development, the BBC gathered that in some areas around Baghdad, insurgents were less than 10km (six miles) from the city.
In an interview with the CBS TV programme 60 Minutes, Mr. Obama said Syria had become a “ground zero” for militants who had been able to take advantage of the chaos in that country.
In a frank TV interview, he said that al-Qaeda had been beaten in Iraq by U.S forces working with Sunni tribes.
But they took advantage of the power vacuum in neighbouring Syria to emerge as ISIS, later called Islamic State.
Meanwhile, there has been fierce fighting to the west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Air strikes helped Iraqi fighters repel an attack at Ameriyat al-Fallujah, a strategic town 40km (25 miles) outside Baghdad.
In a separate development, the BBC gathered that in some areas around Baghdad, insurgents were less than 10km (six miles) from the city.
In an interview with the CBS TV programme 60 Minutes, Mr. Obama said Syria had become a “ground zero” for militants who had been able to take advantage of the chaos in that country.
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