A world void of DAESH not possible with current anti-DAESH campaign
In recent weeks, DAESH recaptured the world's attention by perpetrating deadly attacks in Istanbul and Brussels. At this point, everything - targeting multiple transportation hubs in the Belgian capital, fielding suicide bombers to Istanbul's shopping district, threatening various European capitals - indicates that the international community failed to cripple and defeat the terrorists.
Here's what went wrong:
First and foremost, global and regional powers currently involved in the Syrian conflict do not consider DAESH a priority. Instead, they have been pursuing their own goals on the ground under the pretext of fighting DAESH. Russia, for instance, has launched a comprehensive air campaign last year because Bashar Assad's regime and, by extension, Russian interests were under threat. However, the Kremlin has been talking about DAESH while almost exclusively targeting the moderate rebels and civilians. It was particularly ironic that, by killing DAESH's main adversaries, the Russians breathed new life into the terrorist campaign.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), have been following a similar plan. The group, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization, has been milking the United States for military and financial support under the pretext of fighting DAESH. In truth, U.S. taxpayers have been helping the group create a state-ish entity in northern Syria from scratch. In the past, the U.S.-backed terrorists have not only turned against the moderate rebels but also forcibly removed Turkmen, Arab and rival Kurdish groups from their native land as part of an elaborate ethnic cleansing campaign. Meanwhile, the PYD's Turkish franchise, the PKK, suspended peace talks with Turkey last summer to distract Turkey's attention from DAESH.
The Assad regime and Iran, likewise, have been talking about fighting DAESH to fight a dirty war against the Syrian people.
The second reason behind the anti-DAESH campaign's failure relates to ongoing tensions among players with vested interests in Syria. Certain countries have been preventing meaningful action against the terrorists to pursue their own agenda. Russia, which has been escalating a crisis with Turkey, has been extremely helpful to DAESH. Turkish jets have been unable to fly over Syria as part of the international coalition since November 2015, when a Russian jet was shot down over Turkey after repeated airspace violations. To make matters worse, Russia, in cooperation with Iran, has been mounting pressure on Baghdad to remove Turkish troops from Camp Bashiqa, where Turkey has trained 2,500 peshmerga and 2,000 Arab fighters - who are currently fighting DAESH in Iraq. The Obama administration's opposition to a Turkish plan to create DAESH-free zone, likewise, has helped the terrorists.
Thirdly, Europe's indifference toward terrorism has made it difficult to defeat DAESH. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that his country had caught and deported Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the Brussels bombers, last year. The latest scandal alone would suffice to establish that European countries have been unwilling to share intelligence about terror suspects and failed to keep track of a foreign fighter that Turkey hand-delivered to their door. Keeping in mind that foreign fighters have repeatedly arrived at Turkish airports with weapons and ammunition in their check-in luggage, hardly anyone was surprised to discover that Belgium was not paying attention. It would appear that European governments had covertly facilitated the flow of foreign fighters to Turkey in an effort to keep radicals away from their citizens. Last week, they faced the fact that terrorism is a boomerang - it always comes back to bite the hand that feeds it.
The fourth and most important reason behind the anti-DAESH campaign's failure, however, is regional instability powered by the Syrian civil war. In recent years, Syria has become the world's top exporter of violent threats. To be clear, the situation will not get better unless Assad steps down and paves the way for political transition. Foreign fighters will continue to flock to Syria, develop their skills and come back home to kill innocent people.
Removing Assad can be the silver bullet that killed DAESH and turned the country around. We just don't know how much longer it will take world leaders to take meaningful action.
Here's what went wrong:
First and foremost, global and regional powers currently involved in the Syrian conflict do not consider DAESH a priority. Instead, they have been pursuing their own goals on the ground under the pretext of fighting DAESH. Russia, for instance, has launched a comprehensive air campaign last year because Bashar Assad's regime and, by extension, Russian interests were under threat. However, the Kremlin has been talking about DAESH while almost exclusively targeting the moderate rebels and civilians. It was particularly ironic that, by killing DAESH's main adversaries, the Russians breathed new life into the terrorist campaign.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), have been following a similar plan. The group, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization, has been milking the United States for military and financial support under the pretext of fighting DAESH. In truth, U.S. taxpayers have been helping the group create a state-ish entity in northern Syria from scratch. In the past, the U.S.-backed terrorists have not only turned against the moderate rebels but also forcibly removed Turkmen, Arab and rival Kurdish groups from their native land as part of an elaborate ethnic cleansing campaign. Meanwhile, the PYD's Turkish franchise, the PKK, suspended peace talks with Turkey last summer to distract Turkey's attention from DAESH.
The Assad regime and Iran, likewise, have been talking about fighting DAESH to fight a dirty war against the Syrian people.
The second reason behind the anti-DAESH campaign's failure relates to ongoing tensions among players with vested interests in Syria. Certain countries have been preventing meaningful action against the terrorists to pursue their own agenda. Russia, which has been escalating a crisis with Turkey, has been extremely helpful to DAESH. Turkish jets have been unable to fly over Syria as part of the international coalition since November 2015, when a Russian jet was shot down over Turkey after repeated airspace violations. To make matters worse, Russia, in cooperation with Iran, has been mounting pressure on Baghdad to remove Turkish troops from Camp Bashiqa, where Turkey has trained 2,500 peshmerga and 2,000 Arab fighters - who are currently fighting DAESH in Iraq. The Obama administration's opposition to a Turkish plan to create DAESH-free zone, likewise, has helped the terrorists.
Thirdly, Europe's indifference toward terrorism has made it difficult to defeat DAESH. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that his country had caught and deported Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the Brussels bombers, last year. The latest scandal alone would suffice to establish that European countries have been unwilling to share intelligence about terror suspects and failed to keep track of a foreign fighter that Turkey hand-delivered to their door. Keeping in mind that foreign fighters have repeatedly arrived at Turkish airports with weapons and ammunition in their check-in luggage, hardly anyone was surprised to discover that Belgium was not paying attention. It would appear that European governments had covertly facilitated the flow of foreign fighters to Turkey in an effort to keep radicals away from their citizens. Last week, they faced the fact that terrorism is a boomerang - it always comes back to bite the hand that feeds it.
The fourth and most important reason behind the anti-DAESH campaign's failure, however, is regional instability powered by the Syrian civil war. In recent years, Syria has become the world's top exporter of violent threats. To be clear, the situation will not get better unless Assad steps down and paves the way for political transition. Foreign fighters will continue to flock to Syria, develop their skills and come back home to kill innocent people.
Removing Assad can be the silver bullet that killed DAESH and turned the country around. We just don't know how much longer it will take world leaders to take meaningful action.
Last Update: March 29, 2016 03:08