Australia urged to lift Syria peace bid By Henry Belot A leading United States academic and Pentagon adviser believes Australia can play a greater role in campaigning for a political solution to stem a protracted and bloody conflict in Iraq and Syria. 
University of Chicago professor Robert Pape will tell an Australian National University audience on Monday that Islamic State has fundamentally changed its strategy in recent months.
Mr Pape, who leads a team of 40 analysts charting suiciding bombings, said a loss of territory in Iraq and Syria had prompted IS to focus on sophisticated group attacks.
"It started with an attack in Ankara on   October 10 when two suicide bombers killed 100 people in a complex attack with multiple end points to maximise the number of people killed.
"Then of course there was Paris, when nine attackers killed 130 people with multiple end points ...
in a highly co-ordinated attack that would have quite likely involved dry runs."
Mr Pape, who spoke at a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade- sponsored event in Melbourne last week, said the number of lone suicide bombings linked to IS had dropped dramatically since   October."As the territory controlled by ISIS continues to shrink, they are lashing out to try and change a losing game," he said.
Mr Pape said the change in tactics should be a concern for international security forces that are tasked with tracking communication between accomplices, rather than lone wolves.
"It only takes a bit of a slip-up to disrupt these attacks as they co- ordinated between members and you don't need to pull up all members to stop the attack," he said.
Mr Pape said Australian security and intelligences services should continue to be concerned about the possibility of attacks, although an emphasis should be that political leadership should be prioritised.