Dozens of Twitter accounts. Thousands of media-savvy followers. Slick propaganda videos. The Web-based branding efforts of the extremist group the Islamic State show that they're waging a war online as well as on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
THE area now under the control of the Islamic State is so vast it has already begun to mark out and control its proposed caliphate. It runs from the southern border of Turkey to the north-eastern gates of Baghdad.
The United States — and perhaps, soon, Australia and a handful of other airborne allies — are in the invidious position of trying to bomb what is not so much a scrupulously organised force, but an idea, from existence.
The ISIS fighters, according to international observers who are mapping the changing fronts of the war on a daily basis, do not have a grounded physical presence over the entire extensive patch of desert they now dominate.
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But for those ordinary citizens who live in these places, they know who is in charge.
As Afghanistan's Taliban and the subsequent insurgency showed, creating a state of absolute fear assures absolute population loyalty, making the winning of hearts and minds — a most valuable commodity in any war — difficult to buy at any price.
ISIS fighters have full control of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the first city to fall to the terror state, and from where Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf posted images of his seven-year-old son holding a man's severed head.
Shocking picture ... a boy security agencies believe to be Australian Khaled Sharrouf's son holds the decapitated head of a soldier in the Syrian city of Raqqa. It was posted on Twitter. Source: Supplied Source: Twitter
It is from here that they appear to be running their war and building their caliphate headquarters, reportedly painting parts of it black to reflect their forbidding flag, and where their own version of total Sharia law has been instigated.
Raqqa is most likely the first port of call for foreign ISIS recruits — including up to 500 Britons, 300 Americans, a large but unknown number of Chechens, and 60 Australians and another 100 loosely described as "supporters".
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ASIO and the federal government said during the week that 15 Australians have most likely died fighting for IS to date. The numbers are unconfirmed and the full list of names has not been released.
Taking over ... a member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham waves a flag in Raqqa, Syria. Source: Supplied
To the east of Raqqa, members of the minority Yazidi sect have mostly fled in Iraq's Mount Sinjar after being surrounded and slaughtered by IS; and across to the enormous Mosul Dam, the area has not been declared IS-free despite heavy US air strikes in both locations.
If anything, IS is gathering strength in northern Syria and has not been blunted in Iraq, where its fighters are running amok across the country. Tribal leaders are fleeing for their lives as IS issues execution orders for any who fail to swear allegiance.
Evil terrorists ... US journalist James Foley, who was abducted in Syria in 2012. Foley has now appeared on ISIS media channels, as they broadcasted his death. A black-hooded member of ISIS is seen decapitating the war reporter. Picture: Twitter Source: Twitter
On the route south to Baghdad, the Institute for the Study of War has pinpointed IS actions of recent days, where the terrorists have attacked the Baiji oil refinery and conducted mass executions. They adhere to no known rules of war.
The US air strikes appear to be intensifying in areas north and west of Baghdad, perhaps reflecting the increase in IS activity in these areas; or confirming the already considerable extent of their reach.
Moving in ... fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Picture: AP Source: AP
During the Libyan conflict of 2012, President Barack Obama made it clear that the US was tired of being the free world's first strike weapon against murderously oppressive regimes and rebel uprisings.
Obama insisted others step up and share the responsibility so that the US was not always seen as the anti-Islamic intervening force. That has not occurred in the fight against IS.
The unlikely coalition of countries whom the US is reportedly seeking to initially enlist for potential air support are Britain, Australia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE.
Clearly, the US hopes the Arab factor in this line-up demonstrates an anti-terror, rather than anti-Islam, resolve.
Obama has faced continued international criticism for failing to intervene in Syria, but has been constrained by China and Russia, both of who have vested interests in Syria and have refused to act as peacemakers or peacekeepers.
The air strikes are the "acceptable" face of American intervention, so long as its troops do not hit the ground.
Alleged execution ... young men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road by Islamic State militants at an undisclosed location in Syria's Raqa Province. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
The most obvious place for the US to hurt IS is to bomb the hotbed of Raqqa, though this creates another problem because it plays to the desires of pariah Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who also wants IS routed.
Much commentary this week has been that Obama would need to form a temporary alliance with al-Assad in order to conduct air strikes over Syria.
However, the Obama Administration — increasingly taking a tough line — ruled that out, saying any decisions would be made among genuine allies, not Syria.
"We're not going to ask for permission from the Syrian regime (for air strikes)," said Jen Psaki from the US State Department.
Australia now weighs what role it will play in the distant war. The federal government has seemed a little overanxious to help, making clear its Super Hornet strike force is ready to go the war.
On standby ... RAAF F/A-18 Hornet fighter pilots are ready to assist the US in an air strike mission in iraq and Syria. Picture: Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia
It has since cooled its rhetoric, and Britain is standing back, insisting it will not join air strikes without giving it considerably more thought.
But the nature of the Australian alliance with the US is real. It will not be one of the many who sit back hoping the US overinvests in Iraq and Syria and eventually gets dragged into a ground war.
Australia hopes, like the US, that IS can be weakened from the air, if not destroyed, before the boundaries of its caliphate become permanent lines on the map, and from there begin to strike out at the world using terror.
In the absence of a genuine worldwide response, Australia's planes may be needed.
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