The United States’ military can disrupt and degrade the army of terrorists known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. But airstrikes alone cannot destroy this enemy force, and neither would U.S. boots on the ground. If U.S. leaders have learned anything through decades of misadventures in the Middle East, let it be this: Lasting stability there depends on our Arab allies leading this fight, united against a common enemy that is a bigger threat to the Middle East than it is to America.

The airstrikes unleashed against ISIS this week in Syria, following earlier assaults in Iraq, came with active support and participation of a coalition of Arab allies that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar. Turkey was better late than never, issuing assurances after-the-fact that it backs the coalition and will participate fully moving forward, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

So the United States has succeeded initially in making "it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone," as President Barack Obama put it. The much greater challenge lies ahead: Making it clear that in the end this is not America’s fight at all.

It will take time to reach that point, as the United States has an obvious, but limited, responsibility to clear the way for Arab countries to take the lead and reclaim ground lost to ISIS. The United States helped create the conditions that allowed this terror organization to thrive, by backing a post-Saddam Hussein regime that disenfranchised and demonized the Sunni Baathists who had been in the power bloc with the dictator deposed and executed during the second Gulf War.

Some of those elements coalesced with terrorist factions even more barbaric than al-Qaida in Iraq, resulting in what is a well-armed, well-trained army of terrorists. ISIS has declared itself a Muslim caliphate, claiming vast religious authority and aiming to control most of the Muslim-majority regions of the world.

The risk to those countries is real and present, less hyperbolic than the death and destruction warmongers predict on U.S. soil. These countries would be more effective forging a lasting coalition based on shared interests — their own countries’ national security — and leading the military campaign.

The Arab coalition also must mount a global anti-ISIS public-relations campaign, rather than leaving it to Obama to list the talking points. Their taking the lead downplays the U.S. role, thereby depriving the terror organization of its favorite villain and best recruiting tool.

Deflecting attention from the U.S. is impossible in the short term, as what the Associated Press describes as "a long and sustained military assault" against ISIS strongholds and other terrorist targets in Syria and Iraq has just gotten underway. The U.S. and its Arab allies aim to bomb ISIS fighters, sever the terror network’s supply lines, disrupt its sources of weapons and money and train and equip allied ground forces.

As the weeks and months drag on, mounting these intermittent airstrikes effectively will grow more difficult. ISIS fighters and operatives will take cover in residential areas populated by civilians. Pressure will mount to introduce more accurate ground forces. It’s a familiar cycle for the United States in recent Mideast history, but it has not been a successful one. The United States must not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Helping our Mideast allies fully confront their own enemies is a more promising path. For us, and for them.