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These 4 ISIS Suicide Bombings Could Signal New Strategic Pivot

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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Islamic State militants launched four major suicide bombings across Syria Monday, previewing the insurgent tactics it is likely to employ after it loses territory.

All of the suicide bombings struck areas far outside the reach of territory controlled by ISIS militants, often targeting religious minority groups like the Kurds and Shiite Muslims. One of the attacks even targeted a well-known beach resort town, which is considered so secure it houses a Russian airbase.

U.S. officials increasingly trumpet territorial gains against ISIS as a sign the Obama administration’s strategy is working.

“My sense is that the campaign, as it’s designed to retake land back from ISIL and diminish their war fighting capability, is actually gaining great momentum,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told NPR on August 30.

Experts say focusing on territory seized from ISIS, overlooks the ability of ISIS to remain an insurgent threat in Iraq and Syria for years to come. Failure to deal with the underlying sectarian tensions in both Iraq and Syria “could lead to ISIS 3.0,” retired Army Gen. David Petraeus wrote in an August op-ed for The Washington Post.

In Iraq, heavy penetration by Iranian-backed Shiite militias into the U.S.-backed Iraqi Security Forces is pushing sectarianism to a level not seen since before the 2007 surge. In Syria, sectarian polarization among Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds is reaching high levels.

Syrian President Bashar Assad’s determination not to leave is ensuring the civil war will likely continue. Situations in both countries are so dire, even an ISIS-free Iraq and Syria may not survive intact.

“It’s as if we’ve decided by taking territory back, they won’t be terrorists anymore,” Dr. Frederick Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, previously told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Kagan further explained that even if the president’s strategy of seizing territory from ISIS works, the conditions for keeping that territory jihadi-free are not being set.

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