The terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS), which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, continues its expansion. This summer ISIS proclaimed it had established a caliphate, and several extremist organizations have sworn allegiance to it. The chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia, Heydar Jemal, spoke about how the map of the Middle East can change and what is the most likely scenario in the region.
"Recently, the Caliph of the Islamic state, Al-Baghdadi, said that the main target of the Islamic State is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is being encircled in the north through the Iraqi border, in the south through Yemen, plus there is an uprising in the eastern provinces, where the majority of population are Shiites. This game will create a radically new format in the Middle East and it is possible with the support of Iran," said Jemal.
The expert believes that Iran will now take a much tougher line on the United States. "The only purpose of this is to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia. Today, the situation over the Huthis in Yemen, which occupied the capital and almost seized power, is suspended. They sign an agreement and suspended expansion, but at any moment it can be resumed."
According to Jemal, "Tehran is quite happy about the formation of Islamic State." "They have toughened against the Kurds, who are a factor of the presence of the West and Israel in the region, and are increasingly concentrated in the south-east direction, which means they are after Saudi Arabia," the expert said.
The expert believes that this scenario is beneficial for a part of the American elite and may be part of a larger US geopolitical plan. "The United States views Saudi Arabia as unjustified factor. They forced the Saudi establishment to lower oil prices, asking them to take advantage of the technologies that were used against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and today it's a game for a fall - it's not something that had fallen on the head of Saudi Arabia. This game is an additional blow to Iran, but it has very much weakened the Saudis themselves. Today part of Libyan territory has already sworn allegiance to the Islamic state. ISIS already has military bases on the Egyptian-Libyan border.
Jemal predicts the opening of a new front in the struggle against Egypt. "Egypt today is a part of the old pro-US triangle, which has almost surrended. This triangle is composed of Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Cairo. The situation is sliding towards a war between Saudi Arabia and Tehran, where ISIS plays an absolutely different role from that which is expected by external experts. ISIS behaves ambiguously. During the war of the Syrian opposition against Assad, ISIS never actually participated in a battle with the al-Assad regime. Events will develop quickly and the Middle East will be one of the fronts of the future global destabilization, in which Saudi Arabia will collapse." According to Jemal, "in the American political vision of Saudi Arabia, it is not intended as a single state, the US is considering its division."
Experts predict a significant reduction in the role not only of Saudi Arabia but also Turkey and Egypt in the region, and the possible acquirement of first position by Iran.
