Iraq and Syria, post ISIS
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Sawsan Al Shaer
With a new American administration in place an idea has begun to crystallize in the war against ISIS.
This idea is not limited to deploying helicopters and artillery in Raqqa and Mosul and empowering the presence of special forces but also includes forming a US-Gulf front that contributes to fighting ISIS on condition that the areas liberated from ISIS are not occupied by Iran or militias affiliated with it.
This is the major point concluded by the Moscow document and the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ visit to the Gulf and Iraq. So there’s a US-Russian-Turkish-Gulf agreement to end the Iranian expansion in Arab capitals. We must be clear regarding this point if the world wants our cooperation to eliminate ISIS.
In exchange for any Gulf or Arab contribution in the war against ISIS, whether in Iraq or Syria, Iran must be outside these areas. This message must be clear to the Iraqi government. Mattis said that the US will continue to support Iraq even after it liberates it from ISIS.
If we link this stance to Mattis’ stance on Iran, as a state that sponsors terrorism, we will realize we are before a united front that does not only insist on the exit of Iranian forces from Iraq and Syria but that also wants to end Iranian influence in them. This message is conveyed by both, Gulf countries and the US.
Establishing a US-Gulf front is the headline of the next phase. It carries the slogan of the Arabism of the lands liberated from ISIS. It is soon that the world will clearly know who supports terrorism and helps ISIS stay and who really wants to get rid of it or use it an excuse to expand.
The exit of foreign forces and militias supported by Iran from Syria and Iraq is a major helpful goal. The post-ISIS phase is being discussed even before eliminating the group. This is what Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir mentioned when he announced his country’s willingness to send troops to Syria to combat ISIS in cooperation with the US.
In an interview with the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Jubeir said: “Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries announced they’re willing to participate with special troops alongside the US. Some countries from the Islamic Alliance to fight terrorism and extremism are also ready to send troops.” He added: “We will coordinate with the US to know what the plan is and what is necessary to execute it.”
ISIS-combat plan
It is worth noting that the US President Donald Trump ordered Mattis to draw up a plan within 30 days to combat ISIS. Jubeir also told the German daily that he expects these plans to be proposed soon, indirectly hinting that liberated zones in Syria may be handed over to the opposition.
“The major idea is to liberate areas from ISIS and to also guarantee that these areas do not fall in the hands of Hezbollah, Iran or the (Syrian) regime,” Jubeir added.
On January 4, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the Syrian regime must go back to the table of negotiations to hold direct negotiations with the opposition in order to achieve peaceful political transition in Syria. “We must send a strong message in which we demand that all foreign militias exit Syrian territories immediately,” he said.
Turkish FM emphasized the importance of the withdrawal of all militias from Syria in the end of 2016 after what was known as the Russian-Iranian-Turkish document was announced. This document led to calling for the Astana conference in Kazakhstan.
Therefore, Russia does not at all oppose Iran’s exit from Syria and Iraq as on the contrary this serves its interest if we take into consideration that Iran’s presence will keep the Syrian front ablaze even if the resistance is forced to give up its weapons.
The post-ISIS phase
Meanwhile in Iraq, talking about the post-ISIS phase has in fact begun. They also began to particularly address the Iranian situation, like the case is in Syria. This is why former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rushed to visit Iran in the beginning of January as he felt the circumstances are accumulating against Iran.
He rushed to meet with Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei’s international affairs advisor, to be reassured over his future. On January 4, Al-Arabiya.net reported that according to the Mehr news agency, Maliki said he went to Iran to meet with Khamenei to discuss what he called “possible threats post-ISIS.”
Al-Arabiya’s report added: “This is a new political term in international and regional politics especially that the war against ISIS has not ended yet in Iraq and Syria. The point of Maliki’s statements that he went to Iran to discuss possible threats post-ISIS with Iranian officials are unclear as the extremist organization is not present among the Iranians and ISIS does not have any announced military activity in Iran.”
This article is also available in Arabic.
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Sawsan Al Shaer is a Bahraini writer and journalist.
Last Update: Tuesday, 28 February 2017 KSA 14:18 - GMT 11:18
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Al Arabiya English's point-of-view.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2017/02/28/Iraq-and-Syria-post-ISIS.html
Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the spheres of Arabism
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Turki Aldakhil
In the western side of Mosul where battles have intensified and war raged, Kurdish journalist Shifa Gardi and her colleague Younes Mustafa, a photographer, travelled to cover the news. She went to western Mosul, her face expressing grief and her passion prompting to be in the field.
Gardi responded to the call of duty. During the process of observing the battlefield and documenting information and significant developments, she stepped on a landmine, which ISIS had planted. She lost her life and her spirit ascended into heaven. The scene makes it easier to comprehend the international desire to uproot terrorism. Saudi Arabia could not leave Iraq go through this unrest.
On the day Gardi was killed – Saturday – Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made a surprise visit to Baghdad. This was the first visit of its kind since 1990. The goal is clear and direct. There is a desire to bring Iraq to the Arab fold and to discuss coordination with the country to curb terrorism, especially considering the fact that the menace is expanding over vast areas of Iraq and Syria.
Policies devoid of wisdom
Iraq has suffered as a result of policies that lack wisdom. In September 1980, the then-President Saddam Hussein frankly told King Fahad that he intends to launch a war against Iran. When the king asked why launch the war and start it, Saddam said Iranian provocations were increasing. The king thus advised him not to start the war without a real justification.
“I will invade Iran, drag Khomeini from his beard and get him out of Iran,” Saddam thus responded. The king then told Saddam: “You should not drag him from his beard and he should drag you from your tie! Act upon reason and logic.” Saddam did not listen to the king’s advice and launched a war that exhausted Iraq and other Gulf countries.
In 2003, there was Sheikh Zayed’s initiative, which Saddam refused. America beat the drums of war against Iraq. Saudi Arabia was one of the countries opposing the war the most because the latter meant handing Iraq completely to Iran. Iraq went through what Iraqi journalist and politician Hassan al-Alawi called Iraq’s three phases: the Baathist, the American and the Iranian era, which it is currently living through. This is why Jubeir’s visit is significant as it draws a map that makes it possible for Iraq to return to its Arab axis. This is of course not easy.
The major challenge is in Shiite radicalism, which is adopted in some policies and decision-making processes, particularly by those affiliated to the Ad-Dawa Party and those who genuinely support Iran and open their doors and borders for it.
Iran’s influence in Iraq
It is no secret that Nouri al-Maliki represents the pillar of Iran’s presence in Iraq, and he does not hide that. He once said that “the weapons which the Iraqis are fighting with are Iranian,” and he criticized America’s lack of support to him.
This reminds us of an important criticism made by “Nouri al-Maliki’s maker”, veteran journalist and politician Fouad Ajami who expressed his regret for recommending Maliki and believed he was a soldier of fortune who is destroying Iraq’s unity and committing pure sectarian acts without taking Iraq’s historic religious, ethnic and racial diversity into consideration.
Saudi Arabia congratulated Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi for the success of security forces in their confrontation against armed groups. It decided to name a Saudi ambassador in Baghdad and it wants to employ its military and security wherewithal to serve Iraq’s stability and unity.
Then there’s the important confirmation that Saudi Arabia stands at an equal distance from everyone. This is not fiction. If Saudi Arabia only wanted to support the Sunnis, it would have done so since 2003 when the arena was empty and before Iran and its wings infiltrated the scene.
However, Saudi Arabia has since day one decided to support Iraqi unity and powers of political moderation and carry out humanitarian work such as Saudi King Salman’s sponsorship of 1,000 Iraqi children who were displaced by the terrorist ISIS.
Iraq will remain Arab and one day it will return to its natural space, the reservoir of Arab and Islamic civilization.
The article was first published in Al Sharq al-Awsat on February 28, 2016.
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Turki Aldakhil is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. He began his career as a print journalist, covering politics and culture for the Saudi newspapers Okaz, Al-Riyadh and Al-Watan. He then moved to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and pan-Arab news magazine Al-Majalla. Turki later became a radio correspondent for the French-owned pan-Arab Radio Monte Carlo and MBC FM. He proceeded to Elaph, an online news magazine and Alarabiya.net, the news channel’s online platform. Over a ten-year period, Dakhil’s weekly Al Arabiya talk show “Edaat” (Spotlights) provided an opportunity for proponents of Arab and Islamic social reform to make their case to a mass audience. Turki also owns Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre and Madarek Publishing House in Dubai. He has received several awards and honors, including the America Abroad Media annual award for his role in supporting civil society, human rights and advancing women’s roles in Gulf societies. He tweets @TurkiAldakhil.
Last Update: Tuesday, 28 February 2017 KSA 10:20 - GMT 07:20
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Al Arabiya English's point-of-view.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/vie...i-Arabia-and-Iraq-the-spheres-of-Arabism.html
