Far from it, they are part of a well-developed strategy by the Islamic State, or ISIS, to draw the western powers into a far larger war in the Mideast. They are being aided in this quest by the loud-mouthed right of American, British and French politics.

They are drawing inspiration from the defeats of the Anglo-British army of Hicks Pasha in the Sudan in 1883 that was lured up the Nile then ambushed and swamped by 300,000 Dervish and tribal warriors. And by the defeat in Afghanistan of the British at Maiwand in the second Anglo-Afghan War of 1880.

Five years ago, I asked an Iranian militant if he did not fear a US invasion of Iran. "We will welcome one," he told me with a smile. "America will break its teeth on Iran."

Five years later, it's the turn of ISIS militants to advocate the same strategy.