ISIS Lays Siege To Key Cities: A War Unfolds Further

ISIS Lays Siege To Key Cities: A War Unfolds Further

ISIS has speeded up its march in Iraq. The extremist Islamic group has now seized several Iraqi cities. The Shia government is not able to stop the march. With a top Shia cleric and US insisting that the al-Maliki government is responsible for isolating the Sunni community leading to this attack, the Shia government is facing trouble from all sides.

Sunni militants have moved fast and left a scorching trail of destruction behind. The Sunnis have been supported in their efforts by Saudi Arabia. So, yet again a war arises which divides the world into camps. The capture of two towns-Qaim on the Syrian border and Rawah on the Euphrates river dealt a severe blow to the al-Maliki government.

Islamic extremists have seized large swaths of the northern part of Iraq. This includes the second largest city of Mosul. Al-Maliki is now under a lot of pressure to reach out to the Kurds and Sunnis. But the oppposite seems to be happening. Shia armed forces with heavy arms are now moving to Baghdad is what promises to be a sectarian shutdown.

Sunni militants have now established control over the city of Fallujah in Anbar and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi since the month of January. The massive Anbar province extends from western stretches of Baghdad to Jordian and Syria in the northwest. The fighting in Anbar has damaged the highway linking Baghdad to the Jordanian border. This is a major artery for the goods and passengers.

In the city of Baghdad, nearly 20,000 Iraqi military soldiers walked down the city roads heavily armed to tackle the ISIS. Parades have also been held in the southern cities of Amarah and Basra as well. Al Qaeda breakaway ISIS is on the prowl. What is alarming is that this group has well developed social media networks for recruiting youngsters, according to experts and media reports. If such extremists can get a hold of technology, they are in a position to wreak a lot of damage in Iraq as well as the rest of the world.

Peace does not stand a chance if these militants are forming groups and gaining control over larger territories. Intelligence networks and researchers can only give information. It is up to the world leaders to use the data in an intelligent fashion. Helping communities to integrate so that they do not become alienated and resort to war is critical.

Often, marginalized communities facing deprivation and poverty are the recruitment grounds of such militant groups. If ISIS has to be defeated, it will not be through guns and tanks alone. Communities have to respect each other's differences and actively work towards peace if war has to be stopped from spreading its poisonous tentacles across the world.