Fight Against Islamic State in Iraq Is Becoming a Major Ground War

ISIS is certainly under substantial pressure in Iraq and Syria, and has lost significant territory in both countries over the past year. This, though, is a very long way from defeat.

Iraqi Shiite tribesmen brandish their weapons as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities, on June 17, 2014, in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf. Haidar Hamdani/AFP/Getty Images

As the authorities in Western Europe face up to the increased risk of attacks from Islamic State (ISIS), arrests in Britain and security operations in Belgium and France, all point to intensive government action against the “new” domestic ISIS threat.

The popular media narrative is that this is a desperate move from ISIS as it retreats in Iraq and Syria—but security professionals take a very different view.

There are three elements at work here: the actual state of the war, the Pentagon’s plans for a rapid increase in U.S. involvement in the war (including “boots on the ground”), and the hidden nature of ISIS’s plans for an expanded war overseas.

The Pentagon regards Mosul as the principal focus of the war against ISIS in the Middle East ... and this is evolving more and more into a ground war.