US President Barack Obama has admitted to personally watching videos of hostages beheaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) and said that it actually strengthened his resolve to galvanise global opinion to fight the terror group.
Speaking to NBC's Savannah Guthrie on Sunday on the Today Show, Obama said that watching the bloodshed portrayed in those videos personally affected him, Time notes.
"I think it's fair to say that, anything related to these terrorist actions, I take a look at," he told the channel, referring to the numerous beheading videos that the group has circulated over time. "I think it would affect anybody who has an ounce of humanity. And it's part of the reason why I think we've been so successful in organising such a broad-based coalition."
The show is scheduled to be telecast on Monday.
Obama also spoke about the US administration's efforts to locate a 26-year-old woman – believed to be the last American held hostage by the Sunni militant group.
"Well, what we can say is that, as has been true of all the hostages, that we are deploying all the assets that we can, working with all the coalition allies that we can, to identify her location," he said. "And we are in very close contact with the family trying to keep them updated."
Incidentally, Obama's statements about the beheadings come after the administration on Saturday confirmed the authenticity of a video that showed the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto – an action that brings Japan into the war against the terrorist group.
It is also pertinent here that a few days ago, ISIS released a video purportedly showing a masked jihadist making a direct threat to behead Obama inside White House and to convert the whole of America into a "Muslim Province."
