Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 16
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The delayed "Muslim anti-terrorist coalition" against the growth of radicalism in the Middle East, including Syria and Iraq, is one of the important steps to prevent terrorism.
Some analysts say that a coalition created by the decision of Saudi Arabia and a number of Muslim countries will be of a symbolic nature, but it also has a lot of advantages.
One of the key moments of the coalition's creation is the fact that the Muslim world is against radicalism and terrorism, which are propagandized by the world as the true Islam.
If one carefully reviews the list of countries included in the coalition, one can notice that Iraq and Syria, which suffer from terrorism, are not there. Iran, which is included in the anti-terrorist coalition with Russia, Iraq and Syria, isn't in that list, either. This once again confirms the fact that the "Muslim anti-terrorist coalition" is mainly of political nature.
On the other hand, the fact that the coalition includes mainly Muslim countries inhabited by Sunnis, with the exception of Lebanon, also raises many questions.
Countries outside the coalition regard the fact of its creation as an attempt to prevent the growth of Iranian influence in the region, and not as the fight against terrorism.
Nothing is known about the future plans of the "Muslim anti-terrorist coalition" for now, but in case if it starts military action in Iraq and Syria, it will further aggravate the situation in the region and could lead to the fact that the conflict may escalate into confrontation between Shiites and Sunnis.
It is possible that "Muslim anti-terrorist coalition" led by Saudi Arabia was created on the initiative of the US, which also carries out antiterrorist operations in Syria against the "Islamic state."
The question arises: does the US need new "allies" in the fight against the IS?
First, the coalition led by the United States actually made no serious progress in the fight against the IS.
Second, the military operations of the Western coalition against the so-called "caliphate" have led to the fact that more radicals join the IS on the pretext that the West destroys Muslims.
Thus, one can say that the United States generally doesn't need new "allies" in the fight against the IS, and the "Muslim anti-terrorist coalition" is nothing but an attempt of the United States to solve their problems through intermediaries under the guise of a coalition.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
