56 airstrikes in three days take out dozens of soldiers
“My Ummah, Dawn has appeared, so await the expected victory. The Islamic State has arisen by the blood of the righteous.”
The words of the Dawlat al-Islam Qamat, the chilling anthem of the ISIS, has rung its chorus through the Middle East prominently in the past few months. Though it has yet to be silenced by the militaries of the West, the anthem and the terrorist organization have encountered a new opponent, whose temper may be far shorter than that of their Western counterparts.
This time, ISIS’s perennial chants have made their way to the wrong neighbourhood, and they crossed a particularly dangerous individual in the process.
King Abdullah II of Jordan had voiced his concern at the beginning of February surrounding the public immolation of Jordanian pilot Muaz al-Kasaebeh. King Abdullah “vowed to pursue [ISIS] until his military runs out of fuel and bullets,” according to the New York Post. As a military general, Abdullah is not all talk, either.
A mere week later, King Abdullah managed to bombard ISIS with a resounding 56 airstrikes over the course of three days; his wrath, as promised, was surely felt. Intelligence agencies have reported that several of the terrorist group’s resources, ammunition hangers, and vehicles have been destroyed as a result of the airstrikes.
ISIS is not predominantly scrupulous. Their success is not due to striking military strategies or cunning negotiations, but rather that they have simply struck fear into their enemies to such a degree that their battles have often ended with the opposition withdrawing prematurely. In the tensions with Jordan, however, ISIS has crossed the path of one of the world’s most skilled military generals, whose arsenal and ambition far exceed that of previous opponents.
Jordan — a bordering country of ISIS’s Islamic caliphate — is in a dangerous predicament here. It can virtually wipe ISIS off the map with its air raids, or it can send ISIS back to the caves with its infantry. However, it can’t do it alone, and this means that it requires the aid of other countries, which could lead to further delay in regards to policy making and diplomacy.
Jordan, like many other states of its size, suffers from a confidence issue. Dealing with the traveling circus of unfathomably gruesome acts perpetrated at the hands of ISIS is a rather demanding task, and the region’s history of relying on the West for leadership has often wasted opportunities to unite Muslim nations against their dogmatic rivals.
As such, the question remains as to whether King Abdullah should deploy his jets for another onslaught of air raids, or if he should rely on the support of his neighbouring countries — some of which require more compromise than others.