McCain: Baghdad airport risks falling to Islamic State

US Senator John McCain has expressed his belief that the Islamic State (ISIS) is winning its battle in Iraq and Syria, and warned that it could eventually impose its control over the Baghdad international airport, As-Sabeel newspaper reported on Sunday.

In an interview with the US Cable News Network (CNN) earlier this month, McCain said that ISIS could potentially reach Baghdad by relying on explosives and suicide attacks.

As such, he estimated that the US should revamp its aerial bombing campaign because it is not working, as well as deploy more ground troops.

“First of all, they’re winning and we’re not,” McCain remarked, adding that: “And the Iraqis are not winning, the Peshmerga, the Kurds are not winning, and there’s a lot of aspects of this. But there has to be a fundamental re-evaluation of what we’re doing because we are not – we are not degrading and ultimately destroying ISIS.”

McCain requested arming the Kurdish Peshmerga forces as they are using old weapons in their fight against ISIS, which has seized far superior weapons caches.

He also stressed, “let it be known that we are in this thing to win because it is a threat to the United States of America if they are able to establish this caliphate.”

McCain said the US needs to create a no-fly zone and a buffer zone over Syria.

The US is leading an international coalition that includes dozens of countries and aims to eliminate the Islamic State, which has dominated large areas of Iraq and Syria since last June.