A perceptive WaPo commentary, albeit with a Middle East focus, so IMHO not a global fact today. Three phrases:
We see Islamist fighters becoming skilled soldiers...These fighters are now well-armed, well-trained and well-led and are often flush with cash to buy or bribe their way out of difficulties. (At the end) As terrorist groups turn into armies, pairing their fanatical dedication with newly acquired tactical skills, renewed intervention might generate casualties on a new scale — as the Israelis have been painfully learning.
Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...265_story.html

The authors are:
Robert H. Scales, a retired Army major general, is a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College. Douglas A. Ollivant is a fellow at the New America Foundation’s Future of War project.
This also appears on SWJBlog, so link added that a thread has been started.