President Barack Obama made a statement Friday on the growing rebellion in Iraq, saying "we will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat."
Obama noted that the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, "is not solely or even primarily a military challenge," though he called ISIL a "vicious organization."
"This poses a danger to Iraq and its people, and given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat eventually to American interests, as well," Obama said.
The president said he has asked his national security team to provide a range of options on how the U.S. can help, but he said it's up to the people of Iraq "as a sovereign nation" to solve the problems.
"The U.S. will do our part. But understand that ultimately it's up to the Iraqis, as a sovereign nation, to solve their problems," Obama said.
"Nobody's going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos," Obama added.
The AP has more on the situation in Iraq:
The fresh gains by insurgents, spearheaded by fighters from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, come as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government struggles to form a coherent response after militants overran the country's second-largest city of Mosul, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and smaller communities, as well as military and police bases — often after meeting little resistance from state security forces.
The fast-moving rebellion, which also draws support from former Saddam-era figures and other disaffected Sunnis, has emerged as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability since the U.S. withdrawal at the end of 2011. It has pushed the nation closer to a precipice that could partition it into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish zones.
For more on what's going on in Iraq, go here, and see live updates on the situation below: