|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-big-winners-in-syria-isis-and-iran/
U.S. Involvement in Syria Lacked Purpose, Objective
(Israel Hayom) Prof. Eyal Zisser - American forces didn't enter Syria to end the bloody civil war there, nor did they ever purport to be the bearers of liberty and justice for the Syrian people. They also didn't go there - as Israel had hoped - to curb Iranian expansionism. The Americans' goal was to fight the Islamic State, which had seized control of nearly half of Syria and used those areas as a launching pad for terrorist attacks across the globe, including in the U.S. Despite the collapse of the state it established, ISIS wasn't eradicated and it still maintains a presence within the Sunni populations in Syria and Iraq. Its ideology also hasn't vanished. Turkey has never fought ISIS and views the group as a useful tool against the Kurds and against Bashar Assad and Iran. The writer is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.