Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 16
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Destroying the terrorist group "Islamic State" (IS, aka ISIS or ISIL) through military approach is impossible, says Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi.
"Defeating the IS is impossible as long as its ideology and thoughts remain," Ebadi, who is an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, told Trend Dec. 15.
"Military approach has already been used in fighting the extremist Taliban group in Afghanistan," Ebadi said, adding the realities indicate that with death of each Taliban fighter several new people took gun and joined the group.
She further said the extremist groups, such as the IS, generally rise in communities that lack democracy and suffer from low education and huge gap between the rich and the poor.
Ebadi believes that fighting corruption, dictatorship, poverty and illiteracy should be a priority in preventing extremism growth.
"Books, not bombs, can defeat the IS," she added.
Saudi Arabia on Dec. 15 announced the formation of a 34-state Muslim military coalition to combat terrorism.
A long list of Arab countries, such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, together with Muslim countries as Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Gulf Arab and African states are mentioned in the coalition.
A US-led coalition has already been bombing the "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.
Russia also has launched air-strikes against the group in Syria from Sept. 30.