Barack Obama's Thursday night live televised speech to outline mission to combat Islamic militants

U.S. President Barack Obama will give a major nationally televised speech at 9 pm. ET Thursday to outline an expanded military and political effort to combat Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq, and urge Congress to quickly give him authority to arm moderate Syrian opposition forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

But administration officials said Obama will press forward with other elements of his plan without formal authorization from lawmakers. That could include wide-ranging airstrikes in Iraq and possibly in Syria. Other elements of Obama’s plan, which he was to lay out in a televised speech Wednesday night, included increased support for Iraqi security forces, as well as military and diplomatic commitments from partners in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Such a speech is rare because presidents seldom ask broadcast networks to clear time when the most Americans are watching TV, doing so only to address the most critical issues.