Air strikes are not enough

The US and its allies’ air strikes on the Islamic State militias in Syria and Iraq seem to have made little dent to the group’s gains.

If anything, IS is steadily advancing on most fronts, threatening more and more innocent people.

Most specialists, and laypeople alike, believe that IS’ aggression cannot be stemmed except through the deployment of ground forces in parallel with the use of air power.

That, of course, would help a lot this lopsided fight in which the militias have the advantage of blending among the communities they conquer, making it difficult, if not impossible, for air strikes to accomplish their mission.

But with no partner in the fight against IS willing to send ground forces to fight, the coalition will have to rely on locals, rarely prepared to oppose resistance, and the Kurdish peshmerga, the only group that seems capable of some win.

Therefore, the fight against IS is predicted to be drawn out, an uncomfortable thought.

Turkey offered to use its armed forces to stem the flow of IS forces in Kobani, a city in the extreme north of Syria whose proximity to Turkey makes it uncomfortable for Ankara.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wishes to obtain some guarantees from the coalition members, especially NATO partners, before embarking on any land operation, even though he has won his parliament’s consent for such a move.

Turkey wants to create a safe haven in the north of Syria, to be used to camp Syrian refugees, instead of them fleeing to Turkey.

He also conditioned his country’s intervention on the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, as a matter of high priority.

The disconnected visions of the coalition nations continue to hamper real progress in the fight against IS.

This calls for a summit of coalition partners, where they could assess their progress so far and introduce corrective measures, if needed, rather than continue fumbling.

The coalition has been on this mission for more than a month now. A review would help it see more clearly where things stand.

Stabs in the night are costly to it, alone, and that should be unacceptable and defeating the purpose.