While the insurgents of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant terrorize the area and kill people in Iraq and the Iraqi army seems unable to cope with the situation, the U.S. government responded to the call of Nouri al-Maliki for support and aid.

During the briefing the U.S. President, Barack Obama, said the insurgents are a threat to the Iraqi people and the United States.

He said that he is working to ensure first the security of the staff of USA embassy in Iraq and stated that the U.S. would continue to support the Iraqi military.

Obama announced that USA will send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces and target insurgents who have taken major cities.

“We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action, if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it,” Obama told reporters at the White House.

Obama said that “American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq,” but “USA will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region and American interests as well.”

In addition to military advisers, Obama said he is planning to create “joint operation centres” with the Iraqi military to help coordinate plans and designate possible targets among the militants.

He also repeated that the military advisers to be deployed to Iraq in the coming weeks will not be combat troops.

However, the president clarified that it’s up to Iraq to solve its problems, and American assistance will be supportive and he announced that he will dispatch Secretary of State John Kerry to the region for diplomatic efforts.

Barack Obama said that “Right now is a moment where the fate of Iraq hangs in the balance and the tests for all of them is going to be whether they can overcome the mistrust, the deep sectarian divisions, in some cases just political opportunism, and say ‘this is bigger than any one of us,’” and “That’s not something that the American people can do for them, that’s not something that the American military forces can do for them. We can provide them the space, we can provide them the tools.”