Tag: Da’ish

With the situation in Iraq and Syria changed, energy become key to the improving relationship between Ankara and the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. Working together, they could also halt, or even defeat their common enemy - ISIS - from becoming a regional power.

in order to fight ISIS effectively the Iraqi kurd Peshmerga militia urgently needs modern weapons, which only the Americans can deliver. Others may help, but may not be enough to maintain a long term war fighting, which looks inevitable as western nations hesitate to get actively involved in this strange but highly dangerous conflict.

With as many as 30 million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds claim to be the world’s largest ethnic group without a country. The recent incursion of the Islamic State in Iraq and el-Sham (ISIS - aka Da'ish) now presents the Kurds with both an opportunity but also great risk. The Kurds as a nationality have now re-appeared on the world stage. If anything good should come out of the present Islamic turmoil in Iraq and Syria, it could perhaps improve the traditionally suspicious ties between Turkey and the region’s Kurds.

As it seems, Egypt is already involved in a “full-fledged war” against Islamist groups. President al-Sisi enhanced his anti-terrorism narrative to enforce brutal crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood opposition. The Egyptian government actually declared the group a terrorist organization earlier this year -- but Egypt is still facing an escalation of extremist activity.

In this first part in a series outlining the violently evolving middle east, this essay written by Defense-Analyst David Eshel covers the evolution of Da'ish (aka ISIS, ISIL) from the collapse of Iraq, by operation 'Iraqi Freedom' and the chaos triggered by President Obama's Middle East 'Arab Spring' campaign of 2009.