US Escalates ISIS Strikes, Pentagon Says They Can’t Bomb Way to Victory

20 Strikes in Past 24 Hours, Centering on Northern Syria

The Obama Administration is continuing to escalate its ISIS bombings today, with the Pentagon reporting 20 different air raids in the last 24 hours, mostly centered around northern Syria’s Aleppo Province, where ISIS is contesting the Kurdish town of Ayn al-Arab.

The escalation coincides with Britain joining the air war with strikes of its own, and comes as the Pentagon reiterated that “no one should be lulled into a false sense of security by accurate air strikes.

“We will not, we cannot bomb them into obscurity,” noted Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, insisting that the war wouldn’t be easy or quick, and that the media was creating unrealistic expectations of a victory by airstrikes.

Yet the White House continues to insist the war will exclusively amount to airstrikes, at least from the American perspective, and has been touting the strikes as a great success. It seems that the narrative of an easy, if not quick, war is being advanced by them as well.

Despite this, ISIS continues to adapt to the increases in airstrikes, moving their valuable US-made vehicles to less conspicuous sites and not leaving troops standing around out in the open.

With little territory changing hands because of the airstrikes, and the Pentagon insisting they aren’t going to lead to victory, the question is looming of what, if anything, they’re accomplishing. Whatever it is, with ISIS adapting, there’s going to be less and less “progress” from more and more strikes in the months and years to come.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.