| Summary/Abstract |
The American-led coalition has reached a turning point in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Where previously the campaign was framed in defensive terms – the need to protect Iraqi minorities and prevent the fall of Baghdad and Erbil – the emerging narrative in Washington now centres on a well-advertised ground offensive to retake the ISIS stronghold of Mosul and, implicitly, to break the organisation’s back. The time is ripe for strategic reassessment – or, perhaps more accurately, an open-source assessment that did not occur during the first rush to action in summer 2014.
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