Push for Greater Involvement of U.S.-Led Coalition Grows Stronger as Islamic State Continues Expansion

As the Syrian Kurdish town, Kobani, had almost fallen into possession of the Islamic State, the Obama administration has been pressed for a more active involvement in the fight against the Islamic State.

Kobani, which is located on the border of Syria and Turkey, had been under siege by the Islamic State for three weeks, causing the deaths of hundreds and the escape of 200,000 Kobani residents to other nations, mostly to Turkey.

“The world has seen with its own eyes the images of what happens when a city in Syria or in Iraq is overtaken by the terrorist group called ISIS or Da’esh: massacres, humanitarian tragedies, rapes, horrific violence,” said Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria. “The international community cannot sustain another city falling under ISIS.”

This near-possession of Kobani by the Islamic State had not only brought international attention as a result of the lives that have been lost and/or affected, but also because it showed, to the discouragement of the international community, that the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State has been ineffective in preventing the militant group’s advancement.

“The problem of ISIS … cannot be solved via air bombardment. Right now … Kobani is about to fall,” said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

“The terror will not be over unless we cooperate for a ground operation,” said Erdogan. However, though Erdogan has been supportive of the coalition and has been suggesting more direct involvement, Turkey itself has not been set to join the coalition as of yet.

U.S. military commanders had been repeatedly asking the President for ground troop involvement in the fight against the Islamic State, but President Obama has refused and made clear time and time again that ground troops will not be sent.

Analysts and opinion editorials point to President Obama’s limited military involvement as the reason for the lack of any influence on the Islamic State thus far.

“Why can’t the U.S.-led coalition prevent a ragtag insurgent army from overrunning large towns?” wrote the editorial board of the Washington Post. “The answers speak to the limitations imposed on the military campaign by President Obama as well as the continuing political complications of fighting the Islamic State. Military analysts point out that U.S. strikes on Islamic State forces around Kobane have come late and in small handfuls,” it continued.

As for the “political complications” mentioned by the Post editorial board, the relationships between Erdogan; the Y.P.G., which is the Kurdish military group fighting the Islamic State; Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria; and President Obama, is indeed entangled in a complex situation.

Though Kurdish forces in Kobani need more support for the ground troops, Erdogan sees the Y.P.G. as an enemy, and is vying for more support for moderate Syrian rebels instead. Erdogan’s main goal seems to be to oust Assad from office, according to the New York Times. Though President Obama has made clear that his strategy is not against Assad, he has been encouraging Turkey to be a part of the U.S.-led coalition.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that several airstrikes have been successful in hitting the Islamic State on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

“It is the first time that people have the impression that the airstrikes are effective,” Barwar Mohammad Ali, a Y.P.G. coordinator, told the Times. “But they need more.”