ISIS gains new ground

The Obama Administration continues to falter as terrorists expand into Libya

The Islamic State has continued its rapid growth in recent months by expanding into Libya in response to the U.S., and Russia continuing its battle against the group in Syria and Iraq, according to CNN.

This expansion comes just months after the terrorist attacks on Paris that led to multiple airstrikes against the group last year and a “fierce assault on ISIS targets in Syria,” as reported by The Washington Post. One would think assaults like the ones enacted by France in response to the Paris terror attacks would cripple the militia group, but the assaults have had little effect on the growing group.

In reality, the world, collectively, is not doing enough to stop this threat. ISIS is also proving to be more than just a bunch of men toting guns around a desert.

Now with ISIS expanding into Libya, immediate action is required to attempt to disable the group, and simple airstrikes will not suffice.

In November of last year, the U.S. authorized airstrikes in Libya targeting Abu Nabil. Nabil was an Iraqi national and the senior ISIS leader in Libya, according to the Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD clearly thought Nabil’s death would have a substantial impact on the ability of ISIS to function and establish a presence in the Middle East.

“Nabil’s death will degrade ISIL’s ability to meet the group’s objectives in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

This clearly is not the case, as The Washington Times reports that as of last summer, an estimated 5,000 Libyan jihadis had joined ISIS in Libya.

More drastic action needs to be taken against this opponent that has been greatly underestimated. The more we learn about the group, the greater the threat it proves to be as its members are finding new ways of crossing borders and posing threats to nations that seemed semi-unreachable before.

ABC News reports that ISIS may have an entire “industry” of producing fake passports that originated after the group took over government offices in Syria and may have acquired thousands of “blank passports and at least one passport printing machine.”

“The intelligence community is concerned that (ISIS has) the ability, the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting,” FBI Director James Comey said, according to ABC News.

The Washington Times reports members of the group may have used these fraudulent passports to gain entry into the U.S. as well as European countries.

ISIS is also receiving help from people around the world who sympathize with the group. One of these sympathizers, a man from Kosovo named Ardit Ferizi, is accused of hacking into a U.S. company’s server and passing the personal information of American service members to the Islamic State, reports The Washington Post.

The U.S. needs to step up attacks against ISIS not only to protect Americans, but to protect the world from allowing this infection to grow anymore. A few airstrikes are clearly not phasing this group as they continue to expand and acquire new ground across the Middle East and Northern Africa.

“A drone strike here or there is not really doing much, when, ideally, you want to be taking back territory,” Seth Jones, head of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the Rand Corp, said, according to The Washington Times.

ISIS cannot be allowed to continue to grow, and by expanding in Libya, the group has the ability to do just that. While America does not need to be the police force for the world, ISIS supporters have been found on American soil, and as long as the group continues to grow, the threat to American lives continues to grow.

Stefanick is an opinion writer.