Fathi Maraghi is a professor of Iranian studies at Ain Shams University and a political researcher. He spoke to Albawaba News (English edition) on Monday about the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and its influence on the Middle East. How ISIS was formed in the first place? The formation of extreme groups came as a reflection of religious Internal conflicts. ISIS was formed as a result of the sovereignty of Sunni Muslims in Iraq regardless the Shiite wide existence, the majority of Sunni Muslims in Syria and establishing a homeland for Christian Syrians in Lebanon. This formation based on Sykes-Picot treaty did not satisfy the people in these countries as it deprives Iraq of a suitable ports on the Arab Gulf to meet the increase of population there, as well as depriving Syria of its ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore the Sunni Muslims revolted against Shiite and this led to the forming of ISIS. ISIS is the most dangerous terrorism group nowadays, if we want to compareit with another terrorism group in the past. What would you choose? We can compare ISIS with a group in Iran called "Ismailia", this group was considered as one of the most dangerous terrorism group over the world in the past. This group used to assassinate the leaders of the state and resulted in a special religious doctrine which attracted a lot of people from different countries. Ismailia continued for 300 years and no one could not beat them expect Mongols who killed Hassan Al Sabah, the leader of this group. I think that ISIS will not last for a long time as they started to challenge the big countries in the Middle East. It will retreat from the cities they are occupying now and will choose a small city to settle in. The existence of ISIS serves the interests of some countries in the region by destroying other countries. For example, Iran hates ISIS but it uses the Islamic State in Iraq to stress on the Iraqi government. Turkey also hates ISIS but it uses it to prevent Kurds from establishing an independent state for them. So many sides use ISIS for their personal interests and this is exactly its role in the Middle East. We heard on social networks that United States started landing its forces in Iraq, Did United States repeat its mistakes again in Iraq although social networks claim that ISIS was formed by the help of America? ISIS was not formed by the help of United States but the American ignorance of the interactions in Middle East led for the emergence of ISIS. And how ISIS was previously so important for United States? Nour al-Maliki, the former Iraqi Prime Minister, refused a military cooperation agreement between United States and Iraq, so when ISIS attacked Iraqi cities the United States did not respond till Nour al-Maliki quieted his position. There are some rumors that Maliki is an American follower, is it true? No, he is not, United States complained of Maliki`s weakness. Can we consider ISIS as the new Mongols? I do not prefer this description for ISIS because Mongols in the past was capable of demolishing any state in the world but ISIS is still in the formation stage. And European countries decided to participate in the US-led military coalition because most of ISIS's fighters are from Europe. The idea of jihad attracts European youth, so there is a considerable fear of an expected spread of this idea in Europe, for example, United Kingdom cannot arrest the English jiahdists according to the English constitution. Do you think ISIS exists in Egypt? There are some jihadist cells affiliated with ISIS in Egypt but we do not have any proofs from the security agencies. What is your comment about the photo of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, with a former American security official in 2005? This is may be true but this photo cannot deny Baghdadi`s brutal crimes.
