Updated Aug. 28, 2014 6:45 p.m. ET
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, President Barack Obama said that the Islamic State poses a direct threat to Iraq and the region requiring a broad, comprehensive military strategy to confront it.
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Thursday said the U.S. is developing a broader strategy to root Islamic State out of Iraq and Syria but there are no imminent plans to expand military action in the region.
"The suggestion has been that we will start moving forward imminently and somehow Congress still out of town is going to be left in the dark," Mr. Obama said from the White House press briefing room. "That's not what's going to happen."
For now, the U.S. is focused on protecting American personnel and humanitarian assistance, he said. Ultimately, the president hopes build a coalition that can enact a long-term strategy to include military, political and economic components.
"ISIL has come to represent the very worst elements in the region that we have to deal with collectively. And that's going to be a long-term project. It's going to require us to stabilize Syria in some fashion," Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama said his administration is still developing policies to roll back the Sunni extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
"We don't have a strategy yet," Mr. Obama said. He added: "I think what I've seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we're at than we currently are . . . . We need to make sure that we've got clear plans, so we're developing them,'' he said.
The president also ruled out a U.S. military confrontation with Russia but said that the latest incursion into Ukraine would bring more costs to Moscow.
U.S. President Barack Obama, here speaking at the White House on Thursday, said a broader strategy is being developed to root Islamic State out of Iraq and Syria. AFP/Getty Images
Mr. Obama didn't detail any new consequences that Russia might face but laid the blame for intensifying clashes in Ukraine squarely on Russia.
"The violence is encouraged by Russia," the president said. "The separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia. Russia has deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the new images of Russian forces inside Ukraine make that plain for the world to see."
Regarding Iraq and Syria, Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet with his national security team on Thursday to discuss U.S. efforts to further counter the Sunni extremist group Islamic State. The president on Aug. 7 authorized airstrikes and airdrops in Iraq to protect American interests and support local forces.
The Obama administration has repeatedly pledged that U.S. ground forces won't engage in combat and said military force alone won't solve the region's problems.
Instead, the White House is looking to Iraq's leaders to form a more inclusive government that will be able to confront the group.
On Thursday's developments in Ukraine, Mr. Obama stopped short of calling Russia's moves an invasion but said it was a continuation of recent provocations, adding that the U.S. would look to deepen and expand the scope of economic pressure on Russia. He said that sanctions already have weakened Russia, isolating the country in ways that would make recovery difficult.
"Russia determined that it had to be a little more overt in what it had already been doing, but it's not really a shift," the president said.
The president was unequivocal in ruling out a U.S. military solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
"It is not in the cards for us to see military confrontation between Russia and the United States in this region," he said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting with his security chiefs Thursday and requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and the European Council, saying that the world needs to pay attention to the worsening situation in Ukraine.
The escalation tamped down hopes of reaching a diplomatic resolution.
Write to Jeffrey Sparshott at jeffrey.sparshott@wsj.com and Colleen McCain Nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com
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