(Fathom-BICOM) Giora Eiland - From a purely military point of view, ISIS is very weak. They do not have an air force, long-range missiles, or sophisticated weapons. However, their totalitarian ideology speaks to the hearts and the minds of many Muslims. And if they were to acquire unconventional weapons, especially chemical or biological weapons, they would be happy to use them. The steps needed to defeat ISIS include cooperating with Russia; persuading Turkey to play a constructive role; supporting the Kurdish forces on the ground; ensuring a flow of actionable intelligence that can be translated into timely and effective strikes to destroy ISIS; passing a UN resolution making it clear that any state, company or individual that trades with ISIS will face very painful sanctions; and waging a real battle of ideas. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, former head of the Israeli National Security Council, is now a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
2015-12-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive