OP-ED COLUMN: S.T. By Ali H. Soufan- Soleimani is dead, Iraq is in chaos and ISIS is very happy

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 Editor 0 Comment

Iranian demonstrators hold placards bearing the image of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani in front of the British embassy in Iran’s capital Tehran on January 12, 2020 following the British ambassador’s arrest for allegedly attending an illegal demonstration. Chanting “Death to Britain”, up to 200 protesters rallied outside the mission a day after the brief arrest of British ambassador Rob Macaire at a memorial for those killed when a Ukraine airliner was shot down.

THE EDITOR

In 2016, Mr Donald Trump, then a candidate for United States president, described Mr Barack Obama as the “founder of ISIS”. In the end, it may be Mr Trump who comes to be known not as the terrorist group’s founder, but as its saviour.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been weakened considerably since its peak in 2015, when it controlled a territory the size of Britain, but the Trump administration’s targeted killing of Major-General Qassem Soleimani may have poised the group for a comeback. Just as the misguided American invasion of Iraq in 2003 revitalised Al-Qaeda, some 17 years later, a return to chaos in the same country may yet do the same for ISIS.

READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/soleimani-is-dead-iraq-is-in-chaos-and-isis-is-very-happy

By Ali H. Soufan-

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