The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a small affiliate of Al Qaeda, the Islam terrorist group who are responsible for the devastating 9/11 attacks. Recently, ISIS has started a mass genocide in Syria, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. According to CNN, over 1.2 million Iraqis have been removed from their homes as of June 30, 2014.

The United States has sent three hundred troops to Iraq, nearly doubling our forces. These troops have added to the security of the United States Embassy and airport in Baghdad.

On August 8, 2014, President Barrack Obama approved air strikes, should the American troops stationed in the Middle East be threatened. The soldiers also have permission to use air strikes as defense against the genocide of minority groups.

Eleven days after this, an innocent American journalist named James Foley, who has been missing for almost two years, was decapitated. ISIS posted the video of his gruesome death on the Internet.

The same militant took another American citizen’s life a mere two weeks after the tragic death of Foley. ISIS executed journalist Steve Sotloff on September 2, 2014. To conclude this series of grisly deaths, the executioner threatened the life of a British aid worker.

President Barrack Obama has surveyed the situation in Syria and has come to the conclusion that the threat that the ISIS is posing is larger than was previously estimated. In his words, ISIS is an overgrown cancer.

The growing terrorist group, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, has launched threats on New York and Paris subway stations. The French government has heightened security within their country. A French senior official has warned citizens that nowhere can be considered safe.

The most recent development of this story is the launching of US airstrikes against ISIS. Most of the bombing has been concentrated in Raqqa in northern Syria. The shower of explosives can also be seen from Iraq, where red lights lit up the night sky at 4 A.M. on Tuesday the 23. US military officials are attempting to see the results of the bombing.

ISIS has not issued any immediate response to the attacks, despite the fact that the Syrian president was alerted of the attacks beforehand by its ambassador. On September 29, an ISIS fighter has said that the terrorist group is not fazed by the US’s military strike.