French fighter bombers have begun a response to the apparently Islamic State-orchestrated massacre of mostly French civilians in Paris on Friday night.
That is an understandable reaction to the deaths, in three locations, of about 130 who were enjoying a music concert, Parisian restaurants and a soccer game. At the soccer stadium, if security had not evidently prevented men with explosive vests from entering, total fatalities could have been far greater.
In addition to the dead, another 350 were wounded.
This immense attack comes soon after the recent downing of a Russian passenger plane and a bombing in Beirut, the first in many years. While the Islamic State’s military has been momentarily blunted by the Kurds supported by the U.S. in Syria, and intermittently by Russian air power in both Syria and Iraq, it seems to have on a parallel course expanded into attacks on its enemies’ civilian populations. The passengers in the Russian jet returning to St. Petersburg had enjoyed an especially comfortable ocean-side resort setting.
Easy targets, some would say, music-going and sidewalk-dining Parisians, a street scene in Beirut and a jetliner flight from an airport with questionable security. That is what makes these attacks so atrocious. The Islamic State is clearly not content only to establish a territory of its own across the upper half of Syria and Iraq.
In the coming days and weeks Americans will get a sense of what lies ahead for this country in the Middle East, where only a handful of advisers are located in Syria and a few thousand support troops in Afghanistan.
What the Islamic State wants, of course, is for the West to respond in fury in very visible ways to the killings in Paris and in Beirut and to loss of Russian lives. Challenging non-Islamic foreign invaders is the recruiting appeal that the Islamic State is promoting so successfully. Several thousand men and some women have crossed into Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State to fight. The fear is that some of them will then return to their home countries, zealous, trained, with a source for weapons, to commit the kinds of attacks that occurred in Paris. Or, in the tide of migrants who are fleeing Syria, for example, some will be Islamic fighters incognito. Either case is very possible Friday night.
The response from the West – multiple countries are much more likely to be aligned after these attacks – must be thoughtful, targeted, broad and deep. And, it may have to be longer lasting that many Americans desire.
Whatever the plan, what is certain is that more attention must be paid to the care of the migrants who have easily reached the contiguous countries, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Those governments and regional and international aid groups have been overwhelmed trying to provide food and shelter, and they deserve all the resources necessary from the West. Making those migrants at least reasonably comfortable until conditions allow them to return to a peaceful Syria, which most want to do, is best for all concerned. With winter here, needs are greater still.
Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have been affected by the Islamic State. The response must be well thought out and complete.