US President Barack Obama is to set out his "game plan" against Islamic State militants in a speech on Wednesday.
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.
BBC World Service Middle East editor Sebastian Usher says the
Arab League's message will hearten Mr Obama, but the question now is
whether its members will fully act on it, and act together rather than
against each other.
'No ground troops'
Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Obama said: "I'm preparing the country to make sure that we deal with a threat from Isil."
IS, also often referred to as Isil or Isis, has taken over
large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months, declaring the land it
controls a "caliphate".
Mr Obama went on: "On Wednesday, I'll make a speech and describe what our game plan's going to be going forward."
IS fighters have taken large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Here they parade in Raqqa, Syria
He said he would "start going on some offence" against IS.
But the strategy was "not going to be an announcement about US ground troops", he added.
He said: "This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. What
this is, is similar to the kinds of counterterrorism campaigns that
we've been engaging in consistently over the last five, six, seven
years.
"I just want the American people to understand the nature of
the threat and how we're going to deal with it and to have confidence
that we'll be able to deal with it."
Mr Obama said the strategy would not involve the US alone but would be one pursued by an international coalition.
Iraqi forces have gained ground in the north with the help of US air strikes
He said: "We are going to be able to not just blunt the
momentum of Isil. We are going to systematically degrade their
capabilities. We're going to shrink the territory that they control. And
ultimately we're going to defeat them."
The interview was conducted on Saturday, shortly after Mr
Obama returned from the Nato summit in Wales, where the grouping agreed
to take on IS.
Mr Obama made his "no strategy" comment last month when asked whether he needed Congress's approval to "go into Syria".
BBC North America editor Jon Sopel says that while it showed
how complex the situation in the region was, it also showed the extreme
wariness of the president to unilaterally start military action when it
was not clear where it would end.
Hagel warning
The US military said Sunday's five strikes involved bomber and
fighter aircraft and were in support of Iraqi security forces and Sunni
tribes protecting the Haditha dam - a major source of energy in Iraq.
It said militants' armoured vehicles, some carrying
anti-aircraft artillery, were destroyed. The US said all its aircraft
left the area safely.
Iraqi troops and militia also retook Barwana, east of Haditha, from the jihadists, an AFP correspondent reported.
Fighters have been taking off from the USS George HW Bush in the Gulf to strike in Iraq
Analysis: Jim Muir, BBC News, northern Iraq
The American air attacks, the first of their kind in Anbar
province, signal that Washington has crossed a line that it itself drew.
It has long had a standing request from the outgoing Iraqi
government to use its air power against IS in all areas. But until
recently, it made it clear it would only do that once a new, inclusive
government is formed in Baghdad, with full Sunni representation.
That hasn't yet happened, though intensive efforts are under way to produce a new cabinet in the coming days.
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