WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair say the West must proceed methodically but firmly against the Islamic State group trying to deepen its footprint in the Mideast.

Amid new airstrikes by the United States and some Arab allies against the headquarters of ISIS in eastern Syria, Clinton says he believes Islamic militants want to lure American troops into a ground confrontation.

But Clinton also says in a CBS interview the United States cannot let the Islamist militants make the fight “about us.”

International Mideast envoy Blair tells MSNBC the situation “is nothing like the Cold War” and it requires strategic adjustments from the West.

Blair also says he thinks the Islamic State group wants to create a society that isn’t compatible with the modern world.

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