After two months of dithering and mixed signals, US President Barack Obama addressed the American people on the eve of the 13th anniversary of 9/11. He was outlining his administration's strategy to address the threat of what is known as the Islamic State (IS). Ten days earlier, the world was surprised to hear the US president say that his administration had not yet adopted a strategy to confront IS after it shocked the world by occupying 40 per cent of Iraq's territory and a third of the territory of Syria. In his address to the American people on 10 September, Obama outlined a four-pronged strategy to “degrade and destroy” this terrorist organisation. His strategy will be based on the following elements: a systematic campaign of air strikes against ISIS; increased support to forces fighting IS on the ground; drawing on the substantial counterterrorism capabilities of the United States to prevent IS attacks; and to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians. Speaking of air strikes, the US president made it clear that he “will not hesitate to take action against ISIS in Syria.” He stressed that the United States has a broad coalition of partners to take on the Islamist forces. While the US president was speaking to the Americans, US Secretary of State John Kerry was on a regional tour in the Middle East that began with a visit to Baghdad and took him to Amman, Jeddah, Ankara, and Cairo, where he met both the Egyptian president and foreign minister, and the secretary general of the Arab League. In Jeddah, Kerry attended a ministerial meeting on 11 September for foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council and their counterparts from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. Also present was the new foreign minister of Turkey — the same Turkey that has become synonymous with instability and insecurity in the Arab world, including in Syria and Iraq. Travelling through Turkish territory, foreign fighters from all over the world have flocked to Syria to overthrow the Syrian government. Most of the armed groups fighting in Syria have used Turkey as a base for their operations. Not surprisingly, Turkey refused to sign the statement that came out of this meeting, pledging the support of the Arab countries attending for fighting IS and joining the international alliance that the United States had called for only hours earlier. In this statement, the signatories did not fail to stress that they are not only fighting IS but also terrorism in general. The statement also mirrored the American position outlined by President Obama: namely, that the strategy they discussed and subscribed to aims at destroying IS wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria. In this respect, Secretary Kerry went to great lengths to downplay Turkey's failure to sign the statement, saying that Ankara was dealing with some sensitive issues but that it has remained engaged in the campaign against IS. After the meeting, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, held a press conference at which he pointed out that the Jeddah meeting lent support to Obama's address on 10 September. He talked about the seriousness of the United States' commitment to pursue terrorists wherever they are, and said that the participants had heard an outline of the special strategy to fight terrorism within a comprehensive approach, in addition to reviewing the political conditions prevailing in the countries suffering from terrorism. Al-Faisal added that the strategy should be accompanied by what he termed a “serious drive” to fight the ideas and thinking underwriting terrorism. What was quite interesting in this press conference was the reiteration that the participants would carry out their strategy to fight IS and terrorism with respect to the “sovereignty and independence of countries,” and their territorial integrity. Immediately after the Jeddah meeting, the US State Department announced, on 13 September, the appointment of retired General John Allen as special presidential envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. Secretary Kerry said that the former general “will help build and sustain the coalition so it can operate across multiple lines of effort, in order to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL.” General Allen was the top commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013, and was a deputy commander in Iraq's Anbar province during the Sunni Awakening in 2007 against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The deputy of the special presidential envoy is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk, who previously worked as a top advisor to three different US ambassadors to Iraq. In Kerry's words, McGurk is considered one of the foremost American experts on Iraq. This broad international coalition has raised serious concerns, not only within Egypt but across the Arab world and worldwide. Generally speaking, there are growing suspicions about the true objectives of the US strategy to destroy IS. Is it truly meant only to deal with the threat posed by this organisation to the security and stability of Arab countries (mainly Iraq and Syria)? Another concern is how this coalition can carry out its avowed mission without the involvement of Syria and Iran. In the same vein, what is the legal context in which air strikes against IS targets within Syria will be carried out? As the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out, any such strikes in Syria without prior coordination or the consent of the Syrian government would be a violation of international law and an aggression against a sovereign government. It is worth noting that the Syrian government, according to Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Mualem, is not against American air strikes against IS on Syrian territory, as long as these strikes are coordinated with Damascus. The US administration has, so far, categorically refused any cooperation with the Syrian government. On the contrary, it has requested Congress authorise $500 million dollars to provide training and equipment to the so-called Free Syrian Army. From an American point of view, this rag-tag “army” will provide foot soldiers to fight IS inside Syria. It is a huge gamble on the part of the United States and the coalition just formed in Jeddah, and in Wales during the NATO Summit on 4-5 September. Iran, in reaction to the Jeddah meeting, predicted that the coalition would lead to a conflagration in the Middle East. While I hesitate to be among the doomsayers, there is one thing I am sure about: this coalition will create still more complications in its attempts to solve the thorny problem of how best to deal with IS and other terrorist organisations supported and financed by members of this very coalition — including Turkey, which has become the main sponsor of these groups — not only in Syria but also in Libya, and I would say Egypt, too. Such a coalition is unlikely to be able to achieve its goal of ending terrorism. The writer is a former assistant to the foreign minister.
