After Paris attacks, pressure builds for big military response to Islamic State
The Paris terror attacks are likely to galvanize a stronger global military response to Islamic State, after a US-led air war that has lasted more than a year has failed to contain a group now proving itself to be a growing worldwide threat.
The United States, long accused of taking an incremental approach to the struggle, is under growing political pressure at home and abroad to do more and it is expected to examine ways to intensify the campaign, including through expanded air power.
US officials say Washington will look in particular to European and Arab allies to step up their military participation in the war in Iraq and Syria.
It remains far from clear whether Paris and Washington would be willing to radically expand the scope of their current military engagement, given a deep aversion to getting dragged into a large-scale ground war in the Middle East. But President Barack Obama has been committing more to the fight in recent months, and lawmakers and counter-terrorism experts see the Paris attacks strengthening arguments for additional military might.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for November 13's attacks, which killed 129 people in Paris, in the worst bloodshed in France since the end of World War Two.