Western bombing of targets in the area controlled by the Islamic State (IS) organisation has commenced. US and allied planes have struck at both military and infrastructural targets in the area controlled by the IS and have had an impact.

There are two main problems for Western policy-makers; the first tactical, the second strategic. The first problem is that the West has no ground assets in Syria capable of destroying the IS, but the West also hopes to avoid committing its own forces on the ground.

The second is the related, but broader, problem that the West has failed to properly identify the dynamic governing the conflict in Iraq, Syria and increasingly also Lebanon. Swept along by humanitarian sentiment, the West first wanted to target the Assad regime, and has now designated the Islamic State as the ‘bad guy’ of choice. But fury regarding the undoubted atrocities committed by a number of different players in Syria and Iraq does not constitute a coherent and effective policy.

Let’s consider each of these problems in turn.

It is beyond doubt that US air power has the capability to inflict severe damage on the infrastructure of the Sunni Islamist quasi-state established by the ISIS organisation, and that this is being achieved. This is in line with the objective – as outlined by President Obama – of ‘degrading’ the Islamic State.

But the president also said that the US goal was to ‘in time, destroy’ the IS quasi-sovereignty.

It is much harder to see how this can be done from the air. History contains no examples of states which were destroyed solely from the air (though more limited objectives have been achieved through the deployment of air power alone).

Read the article in full at Fathom Journal.