Can the Coalition Airstrikes In Syria Destroy ISIS?

Published September 23, 2014 at 1:20 PM EDT

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, A-18C Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, prepares to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) to conduct strike missions against Islamic State group targets, in the Arabian Gulf, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014. (Robert Burck/U.S. Navy via AP)

Syria’s foreign ministry is confirming today that Washington did inform Damascus before launching airstrikes against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Syria overnight, a move that included strikes in the ISIS’s de facto capital, Raqqa, in the north, as well as eastern areas near Iraq’s border.

The strikes were carried out by a coalition that included five countries: Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

The intense barrage left an unknown number of fighters and civilians dead, but raised questions about whether these strikes would be more debilitating to ISIS than the strikes which the United States has carried out unilaterally over recent months in Iraq.

It also raised questions about why other western countries, most notably Great Britain and France, did not participate.

Jim Walsh, a security expert at MIT’s Security Studies Program joins Here & Now‘s Sacha Pfeiffer to discuss the coalition effort against ISIS.

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Guest

Jim Walsh, expert in international security at MIT’s Security Studies Program. He tweets @DrJimWalshMIT.