The US State Department defended its strategy in fighting Daesh terrorist group in Iraq and Syria despite the fall of Iraq's Ramadi city into the control of the terrorist group.

In a press briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said that "We constantly look at our policy to determine the best path forward here, but we have a strategy in place that, to be fair, has only really been in place for about eight or nine months now."

"I think it’s a bit unrealistic to think in eight months that suddenly there shouldn’t be tough days on the battlefield. So we believe we have the right strategy. We are constantly looking at it, evaluating it to determine the best path forward," Harf said.

"You also don’t just abandon a strategy because you have a setback that, quite frankly – we knew there would be setbacks like this. So you don’t just abandon it at the first setback. You stick with it, you keep looking at it, and that’s what we’re doing."