Ahmed Ali
is a visiting senior fellow and director of the Iraq Security and
Humanitarian Monitor at the Education for Peace in Iraq Center in
Washington.
May 21, 2015
by Ahmed Ali
May 21, 2015
by Ahmed Ali
WASHINGTON — THE fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, (click here) and of the Syrian
city of Palmyra on Wednesday, is a big gain for the Islamic State, but
not an utter disaster, as many observers fear.
Rather
than inducing panic in Western capitals, it should lead to a realistic
assessment of the Islamic State’s strengths and weaknesses. One setback
in a long war must not trigger hasty strategic shifts that lead to
foreign countries’ becoming mired in Iraq once more.
Palmyra
has economic and cultural significance, as it sits among gas fields and
is home to renowned ruins. But Ramadi, in western Iraq, is of far
greater military and strategic consequence.
The
attack on Ramadi was a sign of desperation, not strength. It took 16
months of continual clashes with tenacious Iraqi security forces and
loyal Sunni tribes before the Islamic State, also known as ISIS,
could take Ramadi. Before it fell, the Islamic State already controlled
half of the city. Its battlefield rivals were exhausted, and it wanted
to give its adherents a psychological boost. Ramadi was a ripe target....
