WASHINGTON (CNS) – Expanded airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria serve as little more than a recruiting tool for the extremist group and place more innocent people in danger, the leadership of Pax Christi International said.

The three top leaders of the Catholic peace organization also called upon the world, particularly the U.N., to work together to seek nonviolent alternatives to stop the Islamic State’s expansion and influence in Iraq and Syria.

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, and Marie Dennis, Pax Christi International co-presidents, and Jose Henriquez, the organization’s secretary-general, suggested several steps that they believe will bring lasting peace to the violence-prone region during an interview Sept. 23 only hours after a U.S.-led international coalition attacked Islamic State forces in Syria.

The Catholic peace leaders proposed alternatives to war such as wide-ranging diplomacy, including direct talks with Islamic State leaders, and economic actions aimed at limiting the group’s access to millions of dollars in oil revenues that fund weapons purchases.

“We believe that especially the expansion of bombing is more likely to create significant recruiting bonanza for some of the extremist groups, ISIS included,” Dennis told Catholic News Service.

“The Islamic State, ISIS, is very well funded and steps must be taken to identify the sources of their funding and to stop them,” she said.

The U.S. and several Middle East nations struck Islamic State positions in Syria with war planes and cruise missiles. Attacks on Islamic State strongholds in Iraq have occurred for several weeks.

In the U.S. for a Pax Christi program on international peacemaking at St. Rose of Lima parish in Gaithersburg, Md., Bishop Dowling said the violence that began with the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 has resulted in years of discord along religious and ethnic lines.

He said little was done to include voices representing local and minority communities in planning for recovery and rebuilding after the invasion, which toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

“Here we have a situation where going in there and investing so heavily in war and violence has not solved the situation. We are now reaping the fruits of the fact that there wasn’t an inclusive political, social response,” Bishop Dowling said.