Horror has struck again at a major international air terminal.
This time it’s in Istanbul, Turkey, home of the third-busiest airport in Europe, where 41 people were killed when Islamic State suicide terrorists opened fire and detonated explosives.
With each attack against a nation either in the Middle East or on its fringes — as Turkey is — the roster of nations aggrieved by ISIS grows.
The Turks have been on the front row of this fight since ISIS first surfaced in neighboring Syria. They’ve been a valuable ally of the United States in our own effort to eradicate the monstrous Islamic cult that has brought so much misery to the region and the world.
With each of these attacks, we see a redoubling of commitment by the nations that have been struck to do more to wage war against ISIS.
Jordanian citizens were killed by ISIS, so King Abdullah ordered a ratcheting up of air strikes by his country’s air force. Saudi Arabia has joined the fight as well. Russia witnessed one of its jetliners blown out of the sky and it, too, launched air strikes — ostensibly against ISIS targets in Syria.
This attack on Turkey ought to bring a fearsome and formidable new ally into a ramped-up effort against the terror cult.
Those of us on the fringes of this fight cannot know for certain what the Turks have done already to strike back against ISIS.
Many more families now are grieving the loss of loved ones because of these monsters.
A glimmer of hope, though, does shine through with the anticipation of yet another critical and powerful ally getting even more serious in this on-going battle to eradicate this hideous international menace.