ISIL Game In Kobani, Anbar

Tehran, Oct 19, IRNA -- During the Six-Day War in June 1967, the Israeli air force destroyed the Egyptian warplanes in their military bases within a couple of hours, Sunday edition of the English language newspaper Iran Daily writes in its Opinion column. This was the main reason behind the defeat of the Egyptian ground forces against Israeli troops in Sinai Peninsula and the occupation of the desert region by the Zionist regime. Egyptian military commanders tried to justify the defeat, claiming that they were expecting the Israeli warplanes to come from the east but they came from the west. Later, this justification turned into a proverb in military and political literature and is used when the unexpected becomes a reality. Now the ISIL terrorist group has materialized this proverb. While all eyes were on the northern Syrian city of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, as it was under ISIL attacks for nearly a month, worrisome reports emerged from the Iraqi province of Al-Anbar. The ISIL Takfiri group launched a sudden offensive with the support of thousands of terrorists and occupied the town of Hit in the province. The provincial capital city of Ramadi is on the verge of collapse, while the fighting is underway between the Iraqi army and ISIL terrorists near the Baghdad International Airport. It is clear that that one of the objectives of the Kobani battle was to divert attention from ISIL activities in Iraq and prepare for an offensive in Al-Anbar. Reports indicate the ISIL Takfiri and Baathist groups operating in Iraq are planning to commit crimes against the civilians of Samarra and Kadhimiya in the upcoming Islamic month of Muharram (starting Oct. 26). It's a fact that the return of Baathist officers to the Iraqi army was a mistake because they are committed to fight alongside ISIL because of ideological issues. The withdrawal of army from Hit, which led to its downfall, was the repetition of the scenario that caused the surrender of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. On the other hand, the US has refused to supply weapons to the Iraqi army because Washington intends to weaken the Iraqi military against ISIL terrorists. In fact, the replacement of Nour al-Maliki with Haider al-Abadi as prime minister did not resolve Iraq's problem, as certain domestic and foreign circles are trying to return the situation of the country to the era of the executed dictator Saddam Hussein. The West is pursuing its secret objectives in the region and trying to take advantage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East by exploiting certain regional players. In fact, security organizations are manipulating the region's crisis in two operation rooms: Jordan and Turkey near the Syrian border. This is while diplomats and politicians are trying to justify regional developments to divert public opinion from the plots devised by the West for the Middle East. More than two months have passed since the US-led coalition was formed for fighting ISIL. During this period, ISIL not only was not weakened, but also accelerated its advance. On Tuesday, military commanders from 22 countries of the coalition gathered in Washington to discuss the results of US-led airstrikes against ISIL. This is very strange because more than 22 armies have not been able to defeat a terrorist group and instead claim that they need decades to uproot ISIL. The fact is that they are not studying ways of combating ISIL, rather they are discussing ways to inflict a major blow to the resistance front in the region. There is no doubt that the regional issues are interrelated and we cannot examine an issue without considering it in a bigger context. What is happening in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon have direct links to developments in the occupied Palestinian lands, North Africa and even the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. There are two conflicting projects: The New Middle East project, which is supported by the US and Israel, and the Resistance Project. Under the circumstances, we should not trust the smiles and frowns of US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal, because the balance of power in the region will determine the fate of Middle East./end