WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama addressed a variety of national security topics during his live multimedia Worldwide Troop Talk at Fort Meade in the United States on Friday and said that despite their continued war against terrorism significant threats from terrorist organizations persist in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and North Africa.

In a U.S Department of Defense report, Obama said: "We've done an incredible job in going after and systematically dismantling the core al-Qaida network that was operating primarily in the Fatah region between Afghanistan and Pakistan."

But he said radical violent extremism has "metastasized" and spread to other areas. He noted that currently Daesh has settled in Syria as "ground zero" for violence, which he said calls for U.S. presence and air domination.

"We are pounding [Daesh] every single day," Obama said. "Our airmen are doing extraordinary work with the support of all the other service branches, and we're providing training, assistance and support to the Iraqi security forces on the ground, as they continue to push back [Daesh] from the territory that they have taken."

Speaking on Syria and Iraq, he said the United States' strategy has consistently been to leverage air power to support the Iraqi security forces' ground efforts and, where possible, the efforts of opposition groups inside Syria to push back Daesh.

These push-back efforts, he said, include thwarting their financing, networks, supplies and infrastructure.

However, Obama lamented that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has brought such destruction upon his people and cities, and created sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni populations inside Syria, so the country has become "a magnet for jihadists throughout the region."

Also, the president explained, if Assad remains in place, he will have alienated so much of the Syrian population that a peaceful ceasefire and political settlement will not be possible. "You'll continue to have this vacuum that's filled by extremists," he said.

According to the president, the "good news" is that Russia and the United States share concerns about countering violent extremism and concur that Daesh remains a danger.

"Despite our conflicts with Russia in areas like Ukraine, this is an area potentially of converging interests," the president said. "The bad news is that Russia continues to believe that Assad, who is their traditional partner, is somebody ... worthy of continuing support."

The president recounted that Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored his advice in recent years to cease financial support and arms sales to Assad. "[Putin] did not take my warnings and as a consequence things have gotten worse," he said. (Tolonews)