Inside Story

Are air strikes on ISIL working?

Is US any closer to its objective to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the armed group in Syria and Iraq?

For more than three years, the US resisted any kind of military intervention in Syria, opting instead to support opposition groups in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
 
But the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) saw a reversal in policy as the group seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

US President Barck Obama summoned a “coalition of the willing” to carry out air strikes, contending that ISIL posed a significant global threat and branding it a “network of death”. And while military officials say the air campaign has stalled offensives in some areas, ISIL appears to be growing stronger in others.
 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces on the ground have also told Al Jazeera they are critical of the strategy behind the air strikes, adding that they are not getting the support they need.
 
So more than three months into the joint military operation, what is going wrong?
 
Presenter: Mike Hanna

Guests

James Denselow – Research Associate at the Foreign Policy Centre think tank.

Ilter Turan – professor of political science at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Elias Hanna – military and security analyst and retired Lebanese Army general.