I spoke with BBC WM this morning about President Obama’s speech on how the US will “degrade and eventually destroy” the Islamic State, assessing what measures Washington might take and whether they will be effective.

The takeaway? The Obama strategy on Iraq is fairly well-defined, but the gap is over Syria — to confront the Islamic State, the Americans will have to work with Syrian insurgents, but the President bring himself to do this after years of indecision?

Listen to interview from 1:07.10

On Wednesday night, just before the Obama speech, I set out similar points to BBC Radio 5 Live. Nothing in the President’s statement altered that analysis.

The discussion also considers the strengths and weaknesses of the Islamic State and how they are trying to use PR to make up for relatively small numbers of fighters.

Listen to interview from 37.25

See Syria Analysis: A 1st Test if Obama is Serious — “4,000 Insurgents Move to Jordan for Training”
Syria Daily, Sept 11: Obama Authorizes Airstrikes on Islamic State