Editorial: Paris Conference on ISIS

Yesterday’s Paris conference on ISIS, which was held on the initiative of Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, has two distinctive features: first, Tehran’s regime was not invited to the conference. This is while the ruling mullahs in Iran tried hard to participate in the conference, and which had the support of Iraqi government and of some coalition members.

Second, the conference focused on the need for national reconciliation in Iraq, real participation of the Sunnis and arming Sunni tribes as well as the accountability of the Iraqi government, because the necessary steps had not been taken in this regard (See 11-point, final statement of the conference).

The conference, and particularly the French government, emphasized that the crisis in Iran will not be resolved by military operation and needs a comprehensive political approach and real participation of the Sunnis who in the past have faced genocide and complete elimination from the political scene.

The conference called for the arming and training Sunni tribes and integrating them into the army, and also called for a general amnesty. It is said that in the conference, which was held behind closed doors, the participants criticized the Iraqi government for not taking adequate measures in this regard. This made the conference different to previous meetings, and the French government and its foreign minister should be congratulated for this initiative.

However, a key missing link in the conference was the lack of emphasis on the destructive role of the Iranian regime and the necessity to end its influence in Iraq and Syria.

Article 5 of the final statement of the conference is very normative and correct, but while the militias affiliated with the Iranian regime parade in Iraq, including in Anbar, and Hadi Ameri, a known agent of the Qods force, is leading the fight to liberate Anbar from ISIS, none of these articles will be implemented.

For the Iranian regime it is not acceptable at all that the Iraqi national forces and Sunni tribes, who want an Iraq away from the influence of Iranian regime, come to power. The regime tries to prevent this with all its power and this has been the main cause of not arming Iraqi Sunni tribes.

On the other side of the equation, while the militias are in control of some areas, no motivation remains for the Sunnis to fight ISIS. The eight-year rule of Maliki and the Iranian regime in Iraq has left the Sunnis with a terrible choice: to accept the hegemony of the Iranian regime and its mercenaries, or to accept the rule of ISIS. And naturally the Sunnis would never accept the first option.

Focusing on the eviction of the Iranian regime from Iraq and Syria is a necessary and complementary step for the Paris conference that has set it in the right direction.