Only Sunnis can truly defeat DAESH
Russian President Vladimir Putin's strategy in Syria can be summed up as saving Syrian leader Bashar Assad with the help of Shiite militias and the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, bombing the opposition until only DAESH is left, and ruling out Ankara's "safe zone" project.
U.S. President Barack Obama's Syria strategy, on the other hand, consists of filling out his term in office by tiptoeing around major questions and being defeated by legacy fetishism without taking any risky decision or having tension with Syria. As U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush have said, some of these major questions include who will overthrow Assad, what will the outcomes be of leaving Syria to Russia's hegemony for the region and how choosing Iran as a partner instead of decades-long allies such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey will affect U.S. influence?
For now, it seems that the main goal of the U.S.-Russia strategy is not to eradicate DAESH. If it were, they would hit radical groups like DAESH only from their ideological heartland, which is their claim of being the protectors and caliphs of Sunni Islam.
As a matter of fact, DAESH is not a Sunni organization. According to Sunni terminology, they resemble the Khawarij sect, the most extremist bloc in the history of Islam, which considered everyone other than themselves as blasphemous. However, DAESH managed to identify itself with Sunnism with the aid of the mainstream Western media and found resonance in Sunni regions of Iraq and Syria. Although it has so far undermined the opposition fighting Assad rather than Assad himself, there are two main tendencies that DAESH has to declare enemies.
The first is Iran-based Shiite expansionism, which oppresses Sunni Arabs and Turkmens in Iraq and Syria, while the second is the invasion policies of the secular West. So, which land forces does the U.S.-Russia strategy employ to fight DAESH? They employ Syrian regime forces, which have so far killed 250,000 Sunni Syrians and displaced millions, and Iran's Shiite militias, which oppress Sunni minorities with the hand of the Damascus regime it controls in Iraq and unconditional support for Assad's massacres in Syria. They also employ the YPG forces, whose secular stance and acts, including being a cover for Marie Claire magazine, are acclaimed. When the two "infidel" countries, the U.S. and Russia, who provide intelligence and air support to these forces, are added to the list, we come across a picture reinforcing the pattern DAESH tries to set forth. In this way, DAESH finds an opportunity to position itself as the only protector of Sunni Arabs.
Therefore, advocating for the moderate opposition of Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds, providing them with the intelligence and air support given to the YPG, and some successful Sunni Islam countries' active contribution the fight against DAESH, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, will yield not only military results, but also some outcomes that will ensure victory in the ideological fight against DAESH. However, the Obama administration and its dispirited policies, which seem to be led by Russia so far, are not so willing to utilize this option.
Even though they are all focusing on seizing land held by moderate opposition groups right now, it is possible in the future to constrain DAESH militarily with Syrian regime forces, Iran's Shiite militias and the YPG. However, such an act would only solidify DAESH's hand in the field in terms of popular support, which would destabilize the region even more.
U.S. President Barack Obama's Syria strategy, on the other hand, consists of filling out his term in office by tiptoeing around major questions and being defeated by legacy fetishism without taking any risky decision or having tension with Syria. As U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush have said, some of these major questions include who will overthrow Assad, what will the outcomes be of leaving Syria to Russia's hegemony for the region and how choosing Iran as a partner instead of decades-long allies such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey will affect U.S. influence?
For now, it seems that the main goal of the U.S.-Russia strategy is not to eradicate DAESH. If it were, they would hit radical groups like DAESH only from their ideological heartland, which is their claim of being the protectors and caliphs of Sunni Islam.
As a matter of fact, DAESH is not a Sunni organization. According to Sunni terminology, they resemble the Khawarij sect, the most extremist bloc in the history of Islam, which considered everyone other than themselves as blasphemous. However, DAESH managed to identify itself with Sunnism with the aid of the mainstream Western media and found resonance in Sunni regions of Iraq and Syria. Although it has so far undermined the opposition fighting Assad rather than Assad himself, there are two main tendencies that DAESH has to declare enemies.
The first is Iran-based Shiite expansionism, which oppresses Sunni Arabs and Turkmens in Iraq and Syria, while the second is the invasion policies of the secular West. So, which land forces does the U.S.-Russia strategy employ to fight DAESH? They employ Syrian regime forces, which have so far killed 250,000 Sunni Syrians and displaced millions, and Iran's Shiite militias, which oppress Sunni minorities with the hand of the Damascus regime it controls in Iraq and unconditional support for Assad's massacres in Syria. They also employ the YPG forces, whose secular stance and acts, including being a cover for Marie Claire magazine, are acclaimed. When the two "infidel" countries, the U.S. and Russia, who provide intelligence and air support to these forces, are added to the list, we come across a picture reinforcing the pattern DAESH tries to set forth. In this way, DAESH finds an opportunity to position itself as the only protector of Sunni Arabs.
Therefore, advocating for the moderate opposition of Sunni Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds, providing them with the intelligence and air support given to the YPG, and some successful Sunni Islam countries' active contribution the fight against DAESH, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, will yield not only military results, but also some outcomes that will ensure victory in the ideological fight against DAESH. However, the Obama administration and its dispirited policies, which seem to be led by Russia so far, are not so willing to utilize this option.
Even though they are all focusing on seizing land held by moderate opposition groups right now, it is possible in the future to constrain DAESH militarily with Syrian regime forces, Iran's Shiite militias and the YPG. However, such an act would only solidify DAESH's hand in the field in terms of popular support, which would destabilize the region even more.