Combating terrorism & double standards

Combating terrorism by the international community should be integral and a must for all the countries of the world. The western countries’ attempt to destroy the mechanisms of combating terrorism during the last few years aims at politicizing terrorism to achieve certain colonialist objectives, especially changing the geo-political map of the region and ending the axis of resistance against Israel through a big lie called Arab Spring. Countering terrorism and terrorists by the world countries, particularly those which are able to do that, is a duty that should be conducted within the frame of an international alliance and coordinated actions with the countries concerned. The battle against terrorism should respect sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all the countries.

Syria, who has suffered from the fires of terrorism, has been calling on the international community and the Western countries to stop financing and arming terrorists. The western countries have to reconsider the implementation of international resolutions relevant to countering terrorism, including UN Security council’s resolution No. 1373 and resolution No. 2170 on confronting the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq.

Everyone who wants to combat terrorism has no choice except cooperating with the Syrian government. Syria is pressing ahead with fighting terrorism which is being funded and armed by regional and international forces.

 Syria has announced readiness to be part of any international coalition against terrorism as long as the aim is to root it out. US President Barack Obama’s latest speech on the counterterrorism strategy he laid out for himself was full of holes and added nothing new to what he has been speaking about months ago of providing funds and arms to what he calls the “moderate opposition” in Syria.  Obama’s strategy for overlooking the terrorist organization of Jabhat al-Nusra in the call for fighting terrorism according to the recently issued Security Council’s resolution no. 2170 while focusing only on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist organization.

The Western classifying of the armed opposition in Syria as “moderate” is politicized and it is part of its unchanged double standard policy for four years. The West  have remained silent throughout the period when the Syrian people had been getting killed at the hands of terrorists, only to move when an American journalist, James Foley, was beheaded by ISIS last month. The West has supported terrorist groups since the very beginning whether with funds, weapons or facilitating the flow of terrorists into the country. There are training camps for ISIS terrorists in Saudi Arabia. These camps have already existed in Turkey and were said to be in Jordan as well, and now they want them to be in Saudi Arabia.

Terrorism was, and still is the enemy of humanity, civilization, and values. How those who have been financing, arming, sponsoring and supporting terrorism openly now claim that they will combat it. Victory over terrorism cannot succeed without respecting the independence and sovereignty of states and coordination with their governments. Otherwise, any unilateral military activities by any alliance will be an aggression on Iraq and Syria. Exploiting the issue of terrorism to establish alliances which have nothing to do with combating terrorism but rather have geopolitical purposes will not succeed. Launching a war on Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) terrorist organization can’t be achieved but through a close coordination with the governments of Syria and Iraq. It is neither logical nor convincing to say that fighting this terrorist organization can be done through providing arms to armed groups in Syria.

The most important issue in combating terrorism in the Middle East is fighting the Israeli factor, which is the base of terrorism in the region. The recent Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip claimed thousands of innocent lives, constituting the largest terrorist act in the region.

K.Q.