The author, French journalist Nicolas Henin, has a unique perspective on ISIS, having been held captive by them for approximately 10 months. In his book, "Jihad Academy", he makes the point that we in the West are playing into the hands of ISIS in Syria, basically because we don’t understand the players. There's the Assad forces, which we oppose, and the ISIS forces, which we oppose, and the various rebel groups who we struggle to support. To many Syrians, Assad's troops are as bad as or worse than the ISIS fighters. And the various rebel groups don't appear to be receiving much support in terms of much needed weapons, money, intelligence, training, or ammunition.

When we do strike at ISIS targets, Henin believes our air strikes either hit the wrong people, or cause too much collateral damage. Add to that the fact that the Russians air strikes throughout Syria are taking a toll on all except Assad's military. As a result, the local people suffer and are forced to flee. They feel that we are ignoring their plight, and our opponents point to our policy failures as proof that we're unwilling or unable to help them. To the people in the region, our policies often make it appear as if we're really supporting the regime, and left with two bad choices, ISIS may appear to be the lesser of two evils.

To prevail in the region, we need to work harder to win the hearts and minds of the people. According to Henin, our practices and policies are, more often than not, adding to the misery and disaster for the local people, and fueling our enemies. If we can provide security for the people, and provide hope for a political solution, ISIS would be weakened substantially.

Henin's book provides an understanding of the current crisis in Syria, and how ISIS has grown during the crisis. He did not go into as much detail looking into who the key ISIS leaders are, and how ISIS began and grew to such a force in the area. For that background, I recommend Joby Warrick's book "Black Flags".
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