The Wall Street Journal quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham:
“Gulf countries are hesitant to commit to a costly, longer-term strategy so long as they don’t feel the United States can address their basic critical, interests in the region,” said Faysal Itani, a fellow at the Atlantic Council. One of those interests is that no broader reconciliation with Iran be reached.
It is also not clear how effective any international effort to cut off foreign financing would be in checking the militants.
“The role of international financing in ISIS’s revenues is marginal,” Mr. Itani said. “The vast majority of their funding and revenues comes from internal operations.”