ISIS threat will further confuse America’s Middle East policy

The latest mutation of Islamic fundamentalists in the Middle East, ISIS is essentially an Al Qaeda offshoot and should be labeled made in the USA. As countless lives have been ruined by this extreme group of Islamists, is it time for the US to roll back this threat which they, in no small part, helped create in Syria?

Not when Obama decides an offensive on ISIS in Syria, where it took root as a rebel force against Assad’s government should be conducted without any cooperation with the Syrian government. Now how arrogant is that when you start planning to eliminate a threat in another country without the consent of that host country’s government?

The choice not to cooperate with the otherwise willing Syrian government seems logical when you consider who the United States supports in the Middle East, most important of which is Saudi Arabia and Turkey. So although the US and Syria have the same enemies by now, openly cooperating with the Syrian government, which Obama pledged needs to go, will further complicate its policy in the Middle East.

From Assad’s perspective, an unauthorized American intervention in their territory could potentially transform the anti-ISIS operation into a covert anti Syrian military offensive. Indeed for the past three years, the United States has had a hard time rallying for an open military operation against Syria, and this ISIS dilemma might present a new opportunity to finally destroy Iran’s main ally in the region.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Moallem already expressed his government’s willingness to fight against the common threat, but warning that any unilateral action in Syria without permission is unacceptable. This was quickly snubbed by the United States, where the State Department said “we are not going to be coordinating with the Assad regime, period” and that “they (Syrian government) have allowed them (ISIS) to grow and we are not going to be working with them to root out this threat.” From this arrogant statement, it seems the State Department has forgotten that its support for “moderate opposition in Syria” in the first place caused this latest Islamic mutation.

A main ally of Syria, Russia expressed their concern regarding the planned bombing of ISIS positions in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying that the US and its allies had “to choose what is more important: to change the regime, and satisfy personal antipathies with the risk that the situation will crumble, or find pragmatic ways to join efforts against the common threat.”