The U.S.-led military campaign against that group has predominantly consisted of air attacks on the group aimed at “degrading” it with the Iraqi Army hoping to mount a successful counteroffensive operation against ISIS forces on its territory sometime in the not too distant future. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have valiantly fought in defense of their territory and its communities in Northern Iraq (which have been subjected to what could reasonably be described as attempted genocide on the part of ISIS) and with coalition air support are gradually pushing back ISIS and regaining their territory.
Canadian special forces have recently become the first of any western military forces to engage this enemy on the ground after they came under attack from machine gun and mortar fire while out surveying the front-line firsthand. The act was dubbed a “defensive” one on the part of those Canadian forces. Nevertheless they are the first western force to engage in a firefight with ISIS. They, thankfully, sustained no injuries.
News of this came as the Syrian Kurds defending the town of Kobani continue to make gains in repelling the vicious attempt on the part of ISIS to crush them and ensure they don’t stand as a symbol of resistance to ISIS’s heartfelt efforts to establish their so-called caliphate. The Kurds have defied them and have stood up as an unwavering symbol of resistance having withstood everything ISIS could throw at them for an awe-inspiring 150 days. They have recently re-captured a strategic hill there which they can use to their advantage against an enemy who has already been repelled from most of the town.
Furthermore in Kobani U.S. air strikes have contributed to blunting ISIS’s ability to mount a prolonged siege by bombing its supply lines and also its positions around the town. Turkey has also assisted by allowing Peshmerga fighters from Iraq to cross through its territory to help reinforce those defending Kobani. All form of assistance to people who needed every bit of help they could get, and now the bravery they exhibited in their unwavering stand against this group is finally beginning to pay off.
It is the efforts of such brave armed men and women coupled with the support of the aforementioned United States-led coalition which is seeing to it that ISIS’s attempt to establish a caliphate won’t be allowed to succeed. On top of this they will be continue to be confronted on every front and eventually be forced to pay a heavy price for their depraved crimes against humanity.
