The Middle East countries have a tendency of never maintaining peace, be it among themselves or even within themselves. Every now and then, there are reports of Terrorist attacks by Terrorist organization who call themselves Mujahideen , and who in the name of their Allah call their actions of killing people, which include people of their religion too as Jihad!!Really, this is ridiculous!!
These countries then unite together against a common enemy, Israel, and attack it from all sides…why? Just because they didn’t give a part of their territory which were rightfully theirs and the Arab nations have had no hold over this territory from the time Israel was born!!
And then recently, there have been common people who protest against their own rulers, Sheikhs, who have still vested power with themselves in this new free and almost 75% democratic world. This really is a positive sign shown by the citizens. But still, the Arab Spring, as the revolution is named, needs some improvement. It has utterly failed in the country where it originated, in Egypt, where the government has since been overthrown again by the military. People really need to carry the purpose of the revolution forward, they need to establish a stable government and reduce the control of the army over the government. A defining Constitution has to be made and enforced as early as possible so that proper law and order can be maintained.
Let’s concentrate on Iraq and Syria right now. Iraq and Syria, along with Afghanistan were one of the most progressive Arab nations in the 1960s. In Iraq, in 1979, Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath Party came to power and changed the whole demography of the country. Genocides, on a very large scale, were carried out in Northern Iraq against the minority Shia Muslims and the Kurd, who were demanding a separate state of Kurdistan. Nearly around 20000 people have been said to be tortured in prisons and ultimately executed during the Saddam regime. Highly lethal chemical weapons were used on the Kurds to wipe them off. Such large was the scale of the killings that Saddam’s genocide is considered next to Hitler’s genocide of the Jews.
After 10 years of comparatively less violence in the country, the ISIS has suddenly emerged from nowhere and has turned the country into a battleground again. With the organization claiming to have killed 1700 soldiers, most of them Sunni Muslims, the ISIS is certainly on the path of becoming the next Saddam. Here are some things you must know about the ISIS:
- The ISIS was formed in 2003 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as Al-Qaeda in Iraq and swore loyalty to Osama Bin Laden. In 2006, it changed its name to Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), with aims of governing territories in the Northern Iraq, including Baghdad. In 2010, it included some part of Northern Syria too, and hence changed its name to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
- The leader of the group is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also known as Abu Dua. The CIA has put a $10 million on his head, only second to Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
- Levant region, which the ISIL claims, is actually is geographical and cultural region consisting of countries like Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
- There is a very serious misconception about the ISIS. The ISIS is has broken all its ties with the Al-Qaeda in 2013 and is an independent organization now.
- The ISIS participated actively in the Syrian Civil War of 2012-13. Starting in 2013, the group has made rapid military gains in controlling large parts of Northern Syria.
- The ISIS is composed of Sunni Muslims and they are filled with utter hatred against the Shiaites who are now ruling the government in Iraq.
- In the month of June 2014, the ISIS launced a large scale offensive in Iraq, leading to the capture of Mosul, the second most populous city of Iraq after Baghdad. The ISIS, two days after, captured the city of Tirkit, which is just 150 km from the capital.
- The ISIS is believed to have an approximate number of 5000 odd fighters composed of the local Sunni Muslims as well as foreigner, large percentage of which are from Chechnya.
Leading to these widespread attacks, the Government of Iran, which is prominently Shia, has offered to support Noor al-Maliki’s government against the ISIS. Uncle Sam, who withdrew its troops in 2011, has been surprisingly quiet over this whole issue. The USA has cleared that it won’t send ant land troops but could help with air strikes.
The ISIS has proved themselves ruthless, releasing videos of their killings. The ISIS has literally conducted the second highest genocide in the history of Iraq.
So, will Abu Dua be the next Saddam? Only time (and Uncle Sam’s stance!!) will tell!!!!!
ThothSpeaks 