And it is not so one-sided.
The terrorists are people. They suffered loss in war zone.
But taken it out on non combatants are wrong. It is sad that the persons who are terrorists didn't see that.
That lead to more loss, this time, a solider.
That's the set up of the story. There is a special mission, and very dangerous. There will be some fighting.
What I like about Chris Ryan novels is that it is from a perspective of the soldiers yet the persons on their sides are not really that the good guys either. So it is not so black and white and good vs evil. It is much closer to reality that based on some common human feelings. That loss and grief made people do things and sometimes are right, depending if they have enough intelligence and correct information to assess the situation.