Obama meets with security advisers on ISIS threat

President Barack Obama met on Monday with a team of national security advisers to discuss US efforts to combat ISIS following last week's attacks on Brussels, the White House said.

"The President was briefed that there is currently no specific, credible intelligence of any plot to conduct similar attacks here in the United States," the White House said.

Obama was told of expanded US efforts to share threat information with international partners, and he directed his team to ensure the United States is doing everything possible to disrupt any plots by ISIS, the White House said.

Meanwhile, Syria said on Monday it is willing to take part in an international coalition against terrorism but only if the United States will work with Damascus in a way it has not done so far, the Syrian envoy to Geneva peace talks said.

“The (US-led) international coalition did not succeed in Syria because it did not coordinate with the regime. Russia was successful because it coordinated with us,” Bashar Ja’afari said in an interview with Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV.

“We are for the creation of an international coalition against terrorism, but in coordination with the Syrian government. We have no objection to working with America as long as it is done in coordination with Syria,” Ja’afari said.

In response, the United States on Monday welcomed the victory by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed forces over ISIS in the historic city of Palmyra, despite concerns over his brutal record.

“We do think that it’s a good thing that Daesh no longer controls it,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said, using his preferred term for ISIS.

“That said, we’re also mindful, of course, that the best hope for Syria and the Syrian people is not an expansion of Bashar al-Assad’s ability to tyrannize the Syrian people.”

(With Reuters, AFP)