Only Regional Co-op Can Uproot ISIL: Iran Daily

Tehran, Oct 8, IRNA - 'Iran Daily' on Wednesday condeming the ongoing brutalities being committed by the ISIL terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, underscored “regional cooperation and security coordination” as the only way to uproot the ISIL. According to political analyst Sabah Zanganeh, US-led airstrikes against the Takfiti terrorist group is ineffective to stop its advance in the Middle East. “Fighting ISIL calls for other practical measures including regional security coordination or an end to the flow of financial assistance to the terrorist group,” the English-language paper quoted him as saying. “Airstrikes in the mountainous areas are not effective. (The Syrian border town of) Kobani is also located in a mountainous area where ISIL forces can easily take cover to avoid being targeted during airstrikes,” the expert added. He also warned that a humanitarian catastrophe could hit Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, if the border town falls to the ISIL terrorists. The comments came as ISIL took over three eastern districts of the flashpoint town. The ISIL terrorists have been trying to reach and seize control of Kobani over the past few weeks, but failed to do so due to the stiff resistance by Kurdish forces. Kobani and its environs have been under attack since mid-September with ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages. Intense fighting for the strategic town has forced nearly 200,000 people to take refuge in Turkey. Zanganeh further said that the most important short-term strategy for stemming the advance of the terrorist group is “full monitoring of Turkish borders and preventing the entry of ISIL forces from Turkey into Syria”. “So far the Turkish border was one of the main routes for deployment of equipment and weapons into Syria” given the reluctance of the Turkish government to stop the terrorists, he said, adding that if the Syrian Kurdish forces are armed, they can stop the progress of the Takfiri organization. “Now the urgency lies in the entry of ground forces to help the people of Kobani and end the blockade on the town by ISIL” despite the fact that US President Barack Obama has stressed the anti-ISIL coalition has no plan to send boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq, the political analyst stressed. On the possibility of deploying Turkish troops to fight ISIL, Zanganeh said, “The entry of Turkish ground forces (to Syria) will not help change the situation” in Kobani because the move may spark fighting between Kurdish forces and Turkish troops. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also “urgently calls on all those with the means...to take immediate action to protect the beleaguered civilian population of Ain Al-Arab”. Syrian Kurdish fighters have called on all Kurds across the region to take up arms against the ISIL militants./end