Former US ambassador to Syria and Israel calls for a coherent strategy toward defeating ISIS

The Islamic State group (ISIS) is a threat to every country in the Middle East, albeit to differing degrees, and to the international community at large. With such a common enemy, a coherent strategy and international coalition can be built to contain and destroy its command structure as a terrorist organization, according to a new commentary piece, “A Strategy Toward Defeating ISIS,” by Edward Djerejian, director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Edward Djerejian photo courtesy Rice University's Baker Institute

Excerpts from Djerejian’s commentary:

“The reaction to the horrific attacks by ISIS in Paris, in Beirut and over Sinai has largely ignored the important strategic dimension in the fight against violent Islamist groups. The attacks underscored the new direction of the ISIS threat and provide the opening of a new opportunity to engage the international community and regional countries to confront, contain and defeat the terrorist organization,” Djerejian wrote.

“The key elements of a coherent strategy would involve both a nearer-term coordinated counterterrorism policy with a military component and a longer-term geopolitical approach to address the underlying causes of radicalism in the broader Middle East. Here we must understand that this is a generational struggle within the Muslim world of some 1.6 billion people between the forces of moderation and extremism. There is a struggle of ideas on what constitutes the true face of Islam and Muslim society. ISIS seeks to establish itself as a credible player in this debate. Yet when it comes to ISIS and its brutality, there is massive condemnation within the Muslim world.

“The Syrian crisis is the problem from hell and enabled ISIS to establish the headquarters of its ‘caliphate’ in Raqqa in Syria. To reach a political settlement in Syria is a daunting challenge given the specific and differing political interests of the players inside and outside of Syria.

“What is needed is for the Geneva Initiative participants to come up with a minimum consensus of all the major parties to confront and destroy ISIS’ territorial grip in the country, establish a cease-fire and initiate a political transition between the opposition groups and the Syrian regime — with a clear understanding that at the end of the transition there would be no role for Bashar al-Assad and his key lieutenants — while allowing for proportional Alawite representation in any future government, along with the other sects and parties in Syria. Barring such a solution, the Syrian people will suffer continuing conflict, displacement and humanitarian disaster,” he said.

To read the full commentary, go here.