© ReutersThe ruins of an al Nusra base hit by U.S.-led airstrikes.
As the United States continued airstrikes against the Islamic State (I.S.) group on Sunday, Republican house speaker John Boehner has warned the U.S. may have "no choice" but to deploy ground forces to battle the militants.
"At some point, somebody's boots have to be on the ground," Boehner told ABC News on Sunday. Describing I.S. fighters as "barbarians," the top House Republican claimed "at the end of the day, I think it's gonna take more than air strikes to drive them outta there."
"They intend to kill us. And if we don't destroy them first, we're gonna pay the price," he stated.
President Barack Obama has claimed no U.S. ground troops will be sent to Iraq and Syria to battle I.S, though the Pentagon has already dispatched over 1000 U.S. troops to Iraq. It says the troops will only provide support to Iraqi security forces.
However, Boehner's warning that ground troops could soon be inevitable is just the latest in a wave of Republican outcry against Obama's pledge to keep the United States from entering another Middle Eastern quagmire.
Earlier in September, Republican senator Lindsey Graham warned I.S. is an "army" that is "intending to come here." Graham claimed that if U.S. ground troops aren't sent to battle I.S., "we all" could be "killed" by the militant group.
"If they survive our best shot ... then they will open the gates of hell to spill out on the world," Graham warned.
Currently, I.S.'s operational capacity is largely limited to Iraq and Syria, where they were hit with another wave of U.S.-led airstrikes on Sunday. At least three oil refineries were hit by airstrikes near the I.S. stronghold Raqqa.
The BBC has reported, "early indications were that the attacks by US, Saudi and UAE planes were successful, U.S. Central Command said."
Comment: It was indeed successful from the point of view of US; killing civilians and destroying Syrian infrastructure. They have no desire whatsoever of "fighting" or "stopping" ISIS.
However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) - a UK based anti-Assad group widely used as a source by Western media - reported all the refineries were "owned by civilians not by (the) Islamic State.
"The coalition warplanes also struck a plastic factory on the outskirts of the city of al Raqqa ... (killing) a civilian. Another six Syrian civilians were killed in U.S.-led airstrikes in the south of the country on Saturday, according to the SOHR. In total, SOHR says 32 I.S. fighters were killed on Saturday nationwide, though only 23 died in U.S.-led airstrikes.
The other nine were killed by Syrian Kurdish troops. Amid the airstrikes, a SOHR spokesperson has warned the targeting of small oil refineries has led to a spike in fuel prices in northern Syria.
"Hitting these refineries has affected ordinary people, now they have to pay higher prices," SOHR's Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters.
According to Reuters, since the airstrikes began I.S.'s ranks have swelled with new recruits from "rival groups."
"Scores of fighters have left al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamist groups in Syria to join IS since the strikes started," Reuters reported on Sunday.
The strikes have also failed to stop I.S. from advancing on the mainly Kurdish town of Kobane, near Syria's border with Turkey.
Comment: The US goal wasn't to stop IS from advancing but to help them.
US-led airstrikes on Syria: Behind the smokescreen
The town has been besieged by I.S. for over a week, and there were reports of fresh fighting on Sunday. The fighting has prompted over 140,000 civilians to flee to neighboring Turkey.
© Unknown
and now Russia, Iran et al want to 'help out' our campaign against them as well... sounds like a potential Rodney King moment of "can't we all just get along?" China may want to 'help out' some of these areas as well, like they are currently in Africa.