By Vestnik Kavkaza
The U.S. President doesn’t plan to use the American army in Iraq and Syria for fighting with terrorists of Islamic State, according to the press secretary of the White House. Earlier, Barack Obama presented his strategy of the struggle against IS, stating that the terrorist group would be destroyed due to airstrikes in the Middle East, as well as support for the security forces of Iraq and the moderate Syrian opposition. Moreover, the U.S. intends to create an international coalition for fighting with IS.
However, Moscow doesn’t share Obama’s optimism. According to the head of the Middle East Institute, Yevgeny Satanovsky, “an important factor is that Turkey won’t participate in a military operation in Iraq. And none of its bases will be used by the coalition for military purposes. [The Turkish President] Erdogan has shown Obama that Ankara has its own course. Of course, Turkey is a member of NATO, but it is up to Turkey to decide to what extent it is involved in the American project.”
According to Satanovsky, Iran will act exclusively near its border: “There are serious disputes whether Iran should help Baghdad as seriously as the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps would like to. The disputes took place between the president’s office and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But Iran won’t move inside Iraqi territory.”
As for Russia, according to the expert, “The 2000 terrorists from the territory of Russia who are fighting there together with Umar ash-Shishani (Umar Chechenky) are significant for us – 1500 Chechens, 200 Dagestanis, 150 people from Kabardino-Balkaria.”
Satanovsky states that representatives of Central Asia are fighting for IS, including Uigurs, who are numerous, and the General Reconnaissance Department of Jordan has to build cooperation with the Chinese State Security which deals with the Movement for the Liberation of Eastern Turkestan.
A thousand terrorists from the UK are fighting for IS, the same number are from France and 500 people are from Germany. “The appearance of Sharia zones not only in the UK, but also in Germany, which the police prefer not to visit, means that this is a very serious problem. There are thousands, if not a million, of Europeans with European passports, who could be a foundation for radical Islamism,” the expert thinks.
According to him, the situation will be worsened by the withdrawal of the coalition from Afghanistan. “Turkmen Talibs attack the border of Turkmenistan. [Turkmen President] Berdymukhamedov lived in peace with Islamists; it seems the successor of Turkmenbashi supported pragmatic and calm relations with the Talibs. Today these calm relations are not supported… Obviously a year ago the embassies of Qatar and Saudi Arabia were not opened in Kyrgyzstan accidentally. If there was an Arab spring, why can’t they make a Central Asian spring? It is difficult to say what consequences will follow it. However, it is clear that all states in the Middle East, at least its Arab part, are seriously threatened. We can’t predict what the consequences for the world community will be.”
