US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet key Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, as he tries to build a coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants.
A US official was quoted as saying Mr Kerry would discuss co-operation in Jeddah to facilitate US air strikes.
Earlier, President Barack Obama said he would not hesitate to take action against IS in Syria as well as Iraq.
In a speech outlining his strategy, Mr Obama said any group that threatened America would "find no safe haven".
He also announced that 475 US military personnel would be sent to Iraq but said they would not have a combat role.
IS controls large parts of Syria and Iraq after a rapid military advance.
Its fighters have become notorious for their brutality, beheading enemy soldiers and Western journalists on video.
The US has launched over 150 air strikes against the group in Iraq and has provided arms to Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting against IS.
Rebel trainingMr Kerry, who arrived in the Red Sea port of Jeddah on Thursday, will hold talks with representatives of Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Gulf states as well as Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Nato member Turkey.
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President Obama: "We will degrade and ultimately destroy" IS
"Many of the countries are already taking action against Isil [Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - the previous name for IS] ," a State Department official was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"But the trip by the secretary [Kerry] is going to broaden the coalition and bring it into more focus and intensify the lines of effort."
Among the issues to be discussed would be training for Syrian rebels on Saudi soil and a wider overflight permission from regional states to increase the capacity of US aircraft, reports say.
President Obama's anti-IS strategy
- A systematic campaign of airstrikes against IS targets "wherever they are", including in Syria
- Increased support for allied ground forces fighting against IS - but not President Assad of Syria
- More counter-terrorism efforts to cut off the group's funding and help stem the flow of fighters into the Middle East
- Continuing humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the IS advance
In a 15-minute speech shown at peak time in the US on Wednesday, President Obama vowed that America would lead "a broad coalition to roll back" IS.
"Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we're hitting Isil targets as Iraqi forces go on the offense," he said.
President Obama was elected in part because of fervent opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and presided over the US troop pullout from the country.
Analysis: Jon Sopel, BBC North America editor, Washington
For the first time, Islamic State targets on the ground in Syria will be in the crosshairs of American pilots. The president told the American people: "I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are." But he was equally emphatic that the combat on the ground would happen without US troops. Instead the US will ramp up its military assistance to the Syrian opposition.
But the president was also at pains to express what this wasn't. "We will not get dragged into another ground war," he insisted. He said that America would lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat and would not be acting alone. There were two cautionary notes - the first on timescale and also that this would not be risk-free to American servicemen and women. Action is going to start: who knows when it will be mission accomplished.
The speech Obama had hoped to avoid
Last year, President Obama abandoned plans to launch airstrikes in Syria against government forces after congressional opposition.
In his speech, he ruled out working with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, despite the fact that his forces are also engaged in fighting IS.
"In the fight against Isil, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorises its people: a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost" he said.
Instead, he said, the US would seek to strengthen the non-IS Syrian opposition, which fights against both IS and President Assad.
Syria's Western-backed National Coalition welcomed Mr Obama's plan, and urged Congress to approve it.
However, the BBC's Jim Muir in northern Iraq says the Syrian opposition is fragmented and dominated by Islamists, who may be opposed to IS but are seeking Islamic rule rather than democracy.
Last month, Syria offered to help the US fight Islamic State.
But Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned that the US had to co-ordinate with the Syrian government before launching any air strikes on its territory. "Anything outside this is considered aggression," he said.
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