Responding To The Islamic State
Connor Strange
Co-Editor-in-Chief
As the influence and aggression of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria continues to spread throughout the Middle East, the situation becomes more and more dire for those bordering the afflicted nations.
Jordan and Kurdistan are the most prevalent members of the ongoing fight against ISIS. Jordan’s involvement came about after a stomach-turning video was released by the Islamic State depicting a Jordanian pilot’s execution by means of being burned alive. Their first response was to execute hostages from ISIS, but it wasn’t halted there.
The country plans to mount an offensive against the terrorist organization and has already conducted a large number of missile strikes, killing ISIS members in scores. Reports from Jordan’s military have shown an astounding militant death toll, though they may be falsified in part. A report was released that 7000 ISIS troops were killed since the beginning of Jordan’s air strikes, an optimistic total. Another says that 20 percent of the Islamic State’s military capabilities were lost in the strikes, which is more than a little vague - but Jordan’s message is clear: ISIS members will not be tolerated near their borders.
One report from the terrorists accused an air strike out of Jordan of killing an American hostage, Kayla Jean Mueller. However, the U.S. claimed that there was no evidence of such a hostage dying, and Jordan dismissed it as more propaganda.
On the Kurdish front, ISIS is steadily withering. Kurds have taken huge regions of land back from the Islamic State, and show no desire to quit. One major victory was the retaking of the town of Sinjar and much of the area surrounding it. Another later success came after a propaganda film out of the small city of Kobani grabbed the attention of the Kurds in conjunction with rebels from the free Free Syrian Army. Supported by American air support, Kobani was retaken. Though the city wasn’t a strategic point of interest, it was certainly a key point in the war of propaganda.
Despite all of the Kurdish military’s recent success against the militants, it wasn’t able to save some of a group of its people, the Yazidis, from horrible war crimes. Some victims to the Islamic State were raped, forced to become sex slaves, driven to suicide and otherwise abused beyond belief.
Because of acts such as that, the hatred for ISIS continues to burn hot in the Middle East and elsewhere. In the United States, President Obama made a request to Congress for the use of military action against ISIS after months of loosely within-his-power air strikes. U.S. Involvement in another Middle-Eastern conflict is, unavoidably, an issue of contention among politicians, but Obama claims that it wouldn’t mean troops on the ground.
With or without the approval of Congress, the Kurdish army continues to receive American air support, and victories are being made all along the edge of ISIS’s influence. Jordan’s reported number of dead militants are sky high, and the Islamic State may find itself broken and scattered shockingly soon.
