United States President Barack Obama on Sunday said the government may have "underestimated" the situation in Syria, making the country "ground zero for worldwide jihadists," CBS reported.

According to the president, the oversight on the Syrian civil war was due to previous events, when Syria was able to take advantage of the chaos and reestablish themselves.

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Another shortcoming was overestimating the strength and capacity of Iraq's military forces, which were easily overwhelmed by the insurgents, Obama added.

Meanwhile, the United States military forces launched intensified airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria, but those may not be enough to stop the advance of the insurgents.

The Islamic state militants are advancing on the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani along the Turkish border, a civilian told CNN.

According to the civilian, who refused to divulge his identity for security purposes, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is now about 2 miles east of Kobani city. His statement validated previous reports of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based intelligence group.

If the insurgents take control of the Kobani, ISIL will completely control Raqqa, its self-declared capital, up to the Turkish border, which is over 60 miles away.

Residents of the city expressed their fear and helplessness towards the situation. Even with military airstrikes in the region, witnesses said it was still insufficient to stop the militant group from advancing in the area.

"We need help. We need weapons," city official Idriss Nassan said. "We need more effective airstrikes."

If the militants are not stopped, the city would be "massacred," Nassan added.

According to the Observatory, who gets information from reliable activist sources, including doctors and civilians in Syria, the Islamic State militants on Monday were nearly 5 kilometers away from Ayn al Arab, which is on the east of Kobani.

To date, there have been more than 227 airstrikes in Iraq and 59 in Syria, launched by the United States and other allied countries.

Based on a statement released by the U.S. Central Command, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have joined U.S. forces in striking the militants in Syria over the weekend.

The strike took out an ISIL control center near their capital of Raqqa, several of the insurgents' armored vehicles and four ISIS-controlled refineries.

TagsISIL, Obama, Airstrikes, Terrorist, ISIS