US President Barack Obama has asked key advisors to draw up options for ratcheting up the fight against the Islamic State group, including opening a new front in Libya.
Eighteen months after a US-led coalition began airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria, multiple administration sources said Friday that the White House wants to speed up and broaden the effort.
Efforts will deepen to retake Raqa in Syria, Mosul in Iraq and to check the jihadists' growth in Afghanistan, but there is an increasing focus on Libya.
Potential options are said to range from intensified air strikes to participation in a UN-backed ground force that would help take on Libya's estimated 3,000 Islamic State fighters.
The Defense Department "stands ready to perform the full spectrum of military operations as required," spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldanza told AFP.
"Action in Libya is needed before Libya becomes a sanctuary for ISIL, before they become extremely hard to dislodge," said one US defense official.
"We don't want a situation like in Iraq or Syria."
The US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group is to meet next week in Rome, the State Department said, confirming Secretary of State John Kerry will attend.
Since rebels and Western airpower toppled Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, the country has effectively lacked a government. In the chaos a disparate group of foreign fighters, homegrown militiamen, tribes and remnants of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have coalesced around the IS banner and gained a foothold.
Some security experts say the deteriorating situation on the ground may leave the administration few options but to launch a ground campaign, even if the long-term path is unclear.
"The unfortunate reality is that this is a bad option, but it's the only one," said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer now with The Soufan Group, a consultancy.
IS-linked terror attacks from Turkey to Indonesia have sharpened concerns about the group's reach and potency, even as it suffers losses in Mesopotamia.
In another development, the United States and Canada vowed Friday to work together in the fight against the Islamic State, even if Ottawa plans to withdraw its jets from the campaign.
Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers Stephane Dion of Canada and Claudia Ruiz Massieu of Mexico struck an upbeat tone at their annual get-together.
But Dion made it clear that when Canada's new Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announces his war plan, his country's six CF-18 jets will leave Syrian skies.
Dion will now travel to Rome next week to join Kerry and two dozen more leaders from the US-led coalition to discuss new ways to work together against the threat.