Finally, a Reckoning of the ISIL at its Source, Syria

The International Coalition united to defeat the ISIL has for the first time conducted military operations against the violent group at its source within Syria. With Tomahawk missile launches from the seas and bomber and fighter planes in the air, the International Coalition has finally taken the fight against the ISIL to its source within Syria. 

In Syria, the International Coalition attacked the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa, both the city and the province as well as the town of Tel Abyad close to the Turkish border. While this first wave of Coalition attacks to neutralize the ISIL's command, control, rearmament and training of fighters, has dealt a blow to the ISIL, it barely scratches the surface of the efforts needed to erase the source of dissent from radicalization to extremism that has led to the rise of the ISIL and other extremist groups in the Levant. 

United States(US) President Barack Obama has pledged to attack the ISIL wherever and whenever fitting following gross atrocities committed by the group including the persecution of religious minorities, the slaying of ethnic minorities, the brutal beheading of journalists, the systematic violence against civilians, and the calls to kill innocent civilians worldwide. 

The new offensive against the ISIL in Syria if not restricted in scope and objective could provide much needed stability to the Levant and to the entire region. But to be successful, the operation must tackle the acidic Syrian cause that has fueled the ISIL. Should the source of the Levant's woes be rectified, thousands of Syrian children could begin to reclaim their lost childhoods, and millions of Syrian refugees who are straining the systems of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, could go home again - go home to Syria to help in erecting the systems needed to meet the needs of all the Syrian people, go home to Syria to rebuild their nation, go home to Syria not fearing poison gas, and go home to a Syria which is stable and Assad free.