Cockburn: Nothing will stop ISIS except a Syrian truce

Patrick Cockburn, writing in the Independent, has warned that the only way to stop the Islamic State now is through an organised truce in Syria:

"US policy has an Alice in Wonderland absurdity about it, everything being the opposite of what it appears to be. The so-called 'coalition of the willing' is, in practice, very unwilling to fight IS, while those hitherto excluded, such as Iran, the Syrian government, Hezbollah and the PKK, are the ones actually fighting. A truce between the government and moderate rebels in Syria would enable both to devote their resources to fighting IS, as they need to do quickly if they are to avoid defeat."