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WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama voiced renewed determination to destroy the Daesh terror group Monday, vowing to win back territory in the Middle East and kill the group's leaders.
Sounding a notably more strident tone, Obama said that the United States and its allies were taking the fight to Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
"We are hitting them harder than ever," said Obama, in a second address following a seemingly Daesh-influenced attack in San Bernardino that has raised questions about his strategy.
"As we squeeze its heart, we will make it harder for ISIS [Daesh] to pump the propaganda to the rest of the world," Obama insisted at the Pentagon after meeting with US military leaders.
Listing a series of Daesh leaders killed in coalition operations, Obama issued a stern warning.
"ISIL leaders cannot hide," he said. "Our next message to them is simple, you are next."
Even before the attack by a Muslim husband and wife in California which killed 14 people, polls showed that more than 60 per cent of Americans disapproved of the way Obama is handling Daesh and the broader terror threat.
As was the case in his primetime Oval Office address a week ago, Obama offered no shift in policy, but admitted: "We are recognising that progress needs to keep coming faster."