Beheadings: The Devious Jihadist Trap (Le Soir, Belgium)
"Obviously, ISIL's 'strategy,' as it doesn't act this way without reason, can only be to draw the West into a trap that will then close around it: provoke the greatest possible Western intervention, motivated by our desire for revenge, spontaneously induced by the despicable murders that are filmed and then disseminated on social networks. ... The greater and more brutal the Western response, the more these jihadis from Hell hope to fuel a potent feeling of 'double standards' across the Sunni-Muslim world based on the fact that for three years, the international community has passively stood by the martyrdom of a nation - the Sunni majority in Syria."
The third scene showing the beheading of a Western hostage, Briton
David Haines, inspired the same feelings of disgust,
indignation, anger and frustration toward the executioners of the so-called
"Islamic State."
However, it's worth trying to gauge what motivates them. Obviously
their "strategy," as it doesn't act this way without reason, can only
be to draw the West into a trap that will then close around it: provoke the
greatest possible Western intervention, motivated by our desire for revenge, spontaneously
induced by the despicable murders that are filmed and then disseminated on
social networks.
The greater and more brutal the Western response, the more these
jihadis from Hell hope to fuel a potent feeling of
"double standards" across the Sunni-Muslim world based on the fact
that for three years, the international community has passively stood by the
martyrdom of a nation - the Sunni majority in Syria. They hope to exploit - to
recruit and convince - based in this sense of injustice.
For almost two years there have been four parties tearing
Syria apart: the regime, the rebels, the Kurds and the jihadists. The objective
alliance that existed between the first and last was shattered when in June,
sensing a position of strength, the jihadists began their Iraqi conquests in
June. This is where many of them are from, where the central government,
pro-Shiite in a caricatural way, created the
conditions for their success in Sunni lands.
In the Syrian theater of war, the rebels are the only party
in danger of rapidly disappearing. Their bitter disunity and the absence of
sufficient outside support will soon expose them to a terrible choice:
surrender, death or exile. Unless, finally, they receive concrete and
significant military aid.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
The error the West should not commit is, in the end, to consider
Bashar al-Assad in Damascus a "lesser evil." The Sunni majority in
Syria, which has endured this torture-based regime for 40 years, would be
dismayed by this about face. And as Belgian expert Thomas
Pierret writes in Politico, many Sunnis "wonder
why the jihadi beheadings warrant intervention while Assad’s far more numerous
atrocities do not."
The infamous atrocities of "the
Islamic State" cannot go unanswered and certainly cannot betray the
slightest weakness toward these unscrupulous butchers. But to avoid falling
into their trap, the targets must be carefully chosen, without forgetting that Assad's
ruthless regime in Damascus is sniggering at a situation that plays in its
favor.
