Longtime Rivals Look to Team Up to Confront ISIS

Longtime adversaries – the United States and Iran, Kurds and Turks – are teaming up to defeat the self-declared Islamic State. Iraqis who once insisted on complete US withdrawal from Iraq now plead for swift intervention. Not one nation recognizes IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL, as a state, but the brutal group has a formidable military, attracts extremists from around the globe, and controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. “The jihadist group known as ISIS has so far thrived in part because its enemies are also enemies of one another, a reality that has complicated efforts to muster a strong response to its rampage,” reports Tim Arango for the New York Times. “Iran and the United States insist there was no coordination, but the convergence of interests was a powerful symbol of just how much ISIS has, at least for now, reordered the region.” Agreement between the US and Russia, which supports the regime in Syria, is less certain. Some analysts question whether regional coordination will ever quell extremist urges to shock and control. Mixed public and private messages from officials in the region complicate intervention. Alliances won’t last for the long term, suggests one analyst, but for now rivals won’t get in each other’s way in targeting IS. – YaleGlobal