By Christopher Holton
France has joined the air campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria. Up to now France has limited its air strikes to Islamic State targets in Iraq.
Allowing your enemies any kind of safe haven is a bad idea, so this decision by France is a welcome one indeed. It’s also good because of the pathetically slow pace of the U.S. air campaign, which involves just a few air strikes a day, often on targets of dubious value.
Hopefully the addition of French aircraft will result in a better pace for the campaign going forward.
Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that the Islamic State can be defeated by air strikes alone and defeating the Islamic State needs to be a top priority for Western powers.
Terror Trends Bulletin 