US President Barak Obama arrives to attend the G20 Leaders Summit welcoming ceremony in Antalya, Turkey, November 15, 2015. (AFP Photo)

US President Barack Obama acknowledged that the Paris attacks were a �terrible and sickening setback� in the fight against the�Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.

�ISIL is the face of evil,� Obama said Monday at the conclusion of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. �Our goal is to destroy this barbaric organization.�

However, Obama ruled out the possibility of deploying more US ground troops to combat the terrorists.

�It is not just my view but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers that that would be a mistake,� he said.

�Not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL but because we would see a repetition of what we�ve seen before, which is if you do not have local populations that are committing to inclusive governance and who are pushing back against ideological extremes, that they resurface, unless we�re prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries,� he added.

Trying to fend off criticism that he does not have a clear strategy against Daesh, Obama suggested that�there is no viable alternative. �If there�s a good idea out there, then we�re going to do it,� he said. �I don�t think I�ve shown a hesitation to act.�

�This is not conventional warfare. We play into the ISIL narrative when we act like they are a state� These are killers with fantasies of glory,� he said.

�If you have a handful of people who don�t mind dying, they can kill a lot of people. That�s one of the challenges of terrorism,� Obama said.

The US president, however, said �modest progress� has been made in diplomatic efforts to peacefully end the Syrian conflict.

�We have begun to see some modest progress on the diplomatic front, which is critical,� he said. �The Vienna talks mark the first time that all the key countries have come together� and reached a common understanding.�

Referring to the Paris attacks, which has completely overshadowed the summit, Obama said that Europe has long faced such attacks, but �sadly, this one was not disrupted in time.�

He said the US had no �specific� intelligence on the attacks, pledging to speed up military intelligence sharing with France.

Daesh claimed responsibility for a string of coordinated attacks in Paris that killed�at least 132 people Friday night and injured many more.

By�New�Zsentinel