We all were shocked today by Islamic State's synchronized attack in multiple Parisian locations on innocent civilians. About 130 are dead and another approximately 100 are severely wounded. The body count is likely to go up. It's a little too early to know the precise identities of the attackers and what their support infrastructure was. There is already at least one arrest in Germany.
Yes, it will be interesting to know the specific details of the terrorists, but the wake up call should already have rung loud and clear. ISIS has been quick to take the credit, as they did for blowing up the Russian airliner leaving from Sharm el-Sheikh killing 224.
The American rag-tag coalition fighting ISIS has been mostly confined to air strikes. Russia and Turkey also have attacked ISIS but have their own agendas: Turkey prefers to attack and kill the Kurds; Russia, which now has its own base in Syria, attacks anti-Assad groups in general (but is happy to kill Chechnya terrorists, who comprise about 25% of the ISIS fighting force).
But, rag tag or not, the coalition operations are beginning to show results on ISIS. Additional pressure is also now being applied on ISIS by a combined Russia-Iran-Hezbollah axis in support of Syria's Alawite government headed by Assad. Thus, ISIS has been suffering defeats and loss of territory lately: the Kurds have reconquered Sinjar, ISIS missed an opportunity to seize the big arms cache at as-Safira near Aleppo (by the time ISIS broke in, most of the arms had been removed), their supply line between Mosul and their capital at al-Raqqah is threatened, and their symbol, John the Jihadist, has been killed.
But ISIS in Syria and Iraq is still a formidable fighting force. The real problem with moving the offensive against ISIS into high gear is that no major power is willing to put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Foreign soldiers are still considered 'advisers'.
This is where the elite French Foreign Legion (FFL) can contribute; its soldiers come from over 140 different countries and are highly trained. In recent years, they fought with distinction in Iraq in Operation Desert Storm (1991), and since 2001 have fought terror in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Chad.
But make no mistake. Defeating ISIS is only part of a much greater war against worldwide Islamic terrorism. ISIS is Islamic Sunni terrorism. The West is yet to confront the greater threat of Islamic Shiite terrorism as exemplified by Iran (the recent Iran nuclear deal shows that the US and Europe are still in denial and may be confronted by a nuclear-armed terrorist state in the not-distant future). And there are other Islamic terrorist entities and movements that have to be confronted: Egypt (Muslim Brotherhood), Lebanon (Hezbollah), Russia (Chechnya), North Africa, Nigeria (Boko Haram) and (unfortunately) the list goes on. Yes, just as there are many different types of cancer that metastasize, so too with Islamic terrorism.
Yes, it will be interesting to know the specific details of the terrorists, but the wake up call should already have rung loud and clear. ISIS has been quick to take the credit, as they did for blowing up the Russian airliner leaving from Sharm el-Sheikh killing 224.
The American rag-tag coalition fighting ISIS has been mostly confined to air strikes. Russia and Turkey also have attacked ISIS but have their own agendas: Turkey prefers to attack and kill the Kurds; Russia, which now has its own base in Syria, attacks anti-Assad groups in general (but is happy to kill Chechnya terrorists, who comprise about 25% of the ISIS fighting force).
But, rag tag or not, the coalition operations are beginning to show results on ISIS. Additional pressure is also now being applied on ISIS by a combined Russia-Iran-Hezbollah axis in support of Syria's Alawite government headed by Assad. Thus, ISIS has been suffering defeats and loss of territory lately: the Kurds have reconquered Sinjar, ISIS missed an opportunity to seize the big arms cache at as-Safira near Aleppo (by the time ISIS broke in, most of the arms had been removed), their supply line between Mosul and their capital at al-Raqqah is threatened, and their symbol, John the Jihadist, has been killed.
But ISIS in Syria and Iraq is still a formidable fighting force. The real problem with moving the offensive against ISIS into high gear is that no major power is willing to put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Foreign soldiers are still considered 'advisers'.
This is where the elite French Foreign Legion (FFL) can contribute; its soldiers come from over 140 different countries and are highly trained. In recent years, they fought with distinction in Iraq in Operation Desert Storm (1991), and since 2001 have fought terror in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Chad.
But make no mistake. Defeating ISIS is only part of a much greater war against worldwide Islamic terrorism. ISIS is Islamic Sunni terrorism. The West is yet to confront the greater threat of Islamic Shiite terrorism as exemplified by Iran (the recent Iran nuclear deal shows that the US and Europe are still in denial and may be confronted by a nuclear-armed terrorist state in the not-distant future). And there are other Islamic terrorist entities and movements that have to be confronted: Egypt (Muslim Brotherhood), Lebanon (Hezbollah), Russia (Chechnya), North Africa, Nigeria (Boko Haram) and (unfortunately) the list goes on. Yes, just as there are many different types of cancer that metastasize, so too with Islamic terrorism.
