Middle East Peace and Security Initiative Nonresident Senior Fellow Nicholas Blanford writes for the Christian Science Monitor on the implications of ISIS’ new strategy, quoting Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the West’s containment strategy:
In launching a flurry of devastating attacks in the skies above Egypt’s Sinai and in Beirut and Paris, the self-described Islamic State appears to have embarked upon a new strategy to lash out against its enemies.
But this strategy carries risks: The jihadists have picked a fight against an array of powerful adversaries that could threaten the durability of their jealously-protected 18-month-old “caliphate” cutting across a swathe of Syria and Iraq.
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On the other hand, argues Faysal Itani, resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, IS, also known as ISIS, may see a win-win situation.
“Looking at both Western rhetoric and action, the Western powers have clearly concluded that destroying ISIS is not achievable within the levels of risk and costs they are willing to bear,” says Mr. Itani. “The strategy is now quite clearly one of containment.”