On Sunday, as the U.S. military announced that it had initiated airstrikes targeting ISIS in western Iraq, President Obama made an appearance on “Meet the Press” to give a sense of what he’ll have to say on Wednesday when he formally outlines America’s strategy for targeting the militant Islamist group.

In his preview, Obama characterized ISIS as a “serious threat,” but added quickly, “we have the capacity to deal with it,” and said that he would be running his plan by Congress to secure its support.

As the BBC reported that day, the president will have support from the Arab League in concert with a recent resolution by the United Nations Security Council:

Mr Obama, who has been criticised for failing to outline a strategy, told NBC TV the US would degrade IS, shrink their territory and “defeat them”. US jets bombed IS targets in western Iraq for the first time on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Arab League has vowed to take “all necessary measures” against IS, which has seized a huge amount of territory from Iraq and Syria. The League gave its backing to a Security Council resolution passed last month calling on member states to stem the flow of weapons and money to extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Obama was careful to point out, however, that his proposed strategy will not involve the deployment of U.S. ground troops or be a throwback to the Iraq War. With help from an international coalition, he declared, “We are going to systematically degrade [ISIS’] capabilities. We’re going to shrink the territory that they control. And ultimately we’re going to defeat them.”

Watch the video of Obama’s “Meet the Press” interview with Chuck Todd below:

–Posted by Kasia Anderson