Iran in frontline fight against Takfiri terrorists

The Takfiri terrorism is the same phenomenon Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tried to warn against three years ago, during his address at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

President Rouhani called on the countries to take terrorism and extremism more seriously to ward off their terrible human, economic and security tolls on the global community.

Terrorism as a frequently-used word in the political and media literature presently tends to be used interchangeably with the word extremism. And this has contributed to giving the idea of terrorism a transnational nature.

The neo-terrorism thus, having its roots in extremism, now cannot be defined as something possessed by a special group to secure its power and vested interests. The neo-terrorism is now after achieving postmodern ideological and religious ends and establishing its identity.

Regardless of how different countries tend to address the need for a global solidarity against the ominous phenomenon, the international community evidently remains to be of the view that the issue should be dealt with in a decisive way to make free the human society from terrorism and extremism.

Terrorism, on the other hand, does not belong to a particular geography nor is it rooted in a special religion or faith. But unfortunately, the Middle East and the World of Islam are in the crosshairs of those mainly Western countries allegedly waging wars against terrorism; useless military campaigns started in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that after more than 15 years are still unable to uproot terrorism in the region.

Now everybody tends to believe that a sole militarist approach is not going to tackle the problem as now the world is facing the Daesh terrorists rising from the ashes of al-Qaeda, the terrorist group held responsible for the 9/11 terrorist incident.

The Middle East is increasingly submerged in the ongoing complicated crises and conflicts and the prospects for establishing an all-out and enduring peace, stability and security in short term seem to be fading.

The first step the countries in the region as well as the world needs to take to address the challenge in the Middle East is developing an accurate and comprehensive understanding about the main causes of terrorism and extremism in the region.

Currently, extremist and terrorist trends are overwhelming the Middle East from Iraq to Syria and Yemen. But the question is why a youngster born and raised in the West takes arms and joins the ranks of terrorists in the Middle East.

A close look at the record of some governments and their imprudence and inefficiencies is going to reveal how their wrong actions have contributed to discontent among the people; something that directly influence promotion of extremism in the societies that in turn is going to be capitalized on by terrorists to recruit new members.

Islamophobia and the disidentification the West tries to promote in the region, often create the same result as those caused under the autocratic Arab governments, encouraging people to opt for extremist ideologies and unify themselves with the terrorists.

While there are no clear mechanisms in such countries to address different problems plaguing the people, the crushing and forceful measures taken by the inefficient and weak governments in the region to deal with the discontent among the public and address their legitimate rights are going to block all the possible ways for a peaceful settlement of the issues.

Such suppressive approaches, in addition to the general public, tend to led the moderate groups towards assuming extremist trends; an ample opportunity for the Salafis and other extremist terrorist groups to take the lead and recruit new members.

The Takfiri terrorism in a full-blown, dark and bloody image, is casting its sinister shadow over the region and the world and more than ever it has turned to be an undeniable global urgency. This makes it inevitable for the world countries to come together and cooperate among themselves to root the ominous phenomenon.

The Iranian President, in 2013 and years before the escalation of the Takfiri terrorism and all the human catastrophe it left both in the region and across the world, from Iraq, Syria and Turkey to Germany, France, Belgium and other Western nations spoke about the urgent need for the world to stand against violence and extremism.

The Islamic Republic of Iran still follows the same policy of fostering a global consensus and cooperation to stand against violence and extremism.

What Iran has done in Syria is evident to the country's unwavering will and endless efforts in fighting terrorism in the Middle East and helping uproot international calamity.

Written By: Samaneh Sa'adat
Translated by: Reza Bahar
Edited by: Javad Baghaeenejad

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