The wretched international community must act on ISIS

The international community is confused over how to deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Some countries have pledged to receive refugees in what seems like a confession of their complete inability to confront the original problem which led to the displacement of these refugees in the first place. These countries have pledged to take in some refugees regardless of their religion and sect because they believe that all people have the right to a free and dignified life. The latter right is one which the West brags about and works to provide in its own countries. However, it overlooks violations of this right in other countries and settles at issuing mere verbal condemnations.

Last week, former American Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said Washington can beat ISIS and the Syrian regime together. Ford’s statement came before President Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday in which he told the American people his plan for confronting ISIS. During an interview with NBC on Sunday, Obama said the next phase in the confrontation with the terrorist organization is the “offensive” phase. He reiterated the call to regional countries with a Sunni majority to participate in the military confrontation against ISIS.

So, the American president does not act if the threat is against third world countries and does not care about the thousands of people who die every day in Iraq, Syria and Gaza and does not care what the situation of Lebanon - which is being dragged into strife - will lead to. But President Obama had begun to feel the imminent threat of ISIS on the eve the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He has begun to prepare for his offensive stage, meaning other countries will participate in the confrontation.

The international community thus awaits a signal from the master of the White House. If he backs down, the opportunity will once again be lost and ISIS will expand and the Levant will plunge into darkness. In this case, there will be no life, no diversity, no plurality, no culture, no arts, no fashion, no journalism and no literature. The Levant will be infiltrated by ISIS and the disease will sooner or later infect other countries. Wretched is this international community which continues to view us from a position of superiority and not from the viewpoint of humanity.

This article was first published in al-Nahar on September 8, 2014.

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Nayla Tueni is one of the few elected female politicians in Lebanon and of the two youngest. She became a member of parliament in 2009 and following the assassination of her father, Gebran, she is currently a member of the board and Deputy General Manager of Lebanon’s leading daily, Annahar. Prior to her political career, Nayla had trained, written in and managed various sections of Annahar, where she currently has a regular column. She can be followed on Twitter @NaylaTueni