The White House declared on Friday the United States was at war with Islamic State radicals, seeking to rub out another semantic flap over its Syria policy.
In a series of television interviews secretary of state John Kerry had appeared to be reluctant to term the expansion of US operations against IS in Iraq and Syria as "war."
But pressed to clear up doubts about how President Barack Obama sees the conflict, the White House and Pentagon left little doubt.
"The United States is at war with ISIL in the same way that we are at war with al-Qaida and its affiliates all around the globe," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest....