Islamic State flag. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Pentagon planners are considering new options to expand the war against ISIS. The decision comes fifteen months after their intense air-war began to strike the movement, which has left it barely constrained in Iraq and actually able to gain new territory in Syria.
The tactics under review include increasing the air-attacks and going for “high-value targets”, regardless that these may be located in heavily populated areas with all the risks of added civilian casualties (see "The airstrike harvest", 9 October 2015). More involvement of special forces, and even the use of troops in frontline ground-combat (not least alongside Iraqi army units), are also probable. The war, in other words, shows no signs of ending or even slowing down.
