In Syria, the U.S. continued airstrikes against Islamic State militants attempting to take control of the key border town of Kobani. In recent weeks ISIS attacks have forced tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to flee to neighboring Turkey. At the Pentagon, President Obama said the U.S. mission to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq would be an uphill battle.

President Obama: “It remains a difficult mission. As I’ve indicated from the start, it is not something that is going to be solved overnight.”

Meanwhile, a Syrian Franciscan priest, Father Hanna Jallouf, and twenty other Christians who had been kidnapped by Islamist rebels were released this week. Their captors belonged to a group affiliated with Al Qaeda called Al Nusra.