In next to no time, ISIL has managed to draw the US back into the Middle East

ISIL's threat, as seen by Taoufik Bouachrine (Akhbar Al Youm), Yassin Al Haj Saleh (Al Quds Al Arabi), Abdel Bari Atwan (Rai Al Youm) and Abdulrahman Al Rashid (Asharq Al Awsat) and Al Khaleej editorial.

ISIL’s successes, its declaration of a caliphate, its brutal killing methods and ability to recruit fighters from across the world have put the organisation’s name on everybody’s lips, wrote Taoufik Bouachrine, editor-in-chief of the Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Al Youm.

ISIL is above all a political organisation and is a sociological phenomenon rather than an ideological one. He pondered how that came to be.

Despite the circumstances that led to ISIL’s birth, some countries allowed it to seize significant territory and frighten the West.

Despite this background, a pivotal question is raised about the deeper motives that have prompted many Arab and Muslim youths to leave their home countries and join ISIL’s death squads.

Are these recruits more religious than others? Are they purists who want nothing but to fight for God? Do they have a religious ideology with clear foundations and methods and analysis of reality?

Definitely not, he wrote. The vast majority lack academic and religious backgrounds and have only recently been introduced to Salafism. Many had been in jail for illegal activities or worked modest jobs before joining ISIL.

This is why an explanation for this phenomenon will not be found in old religious books, old fatwas, the history of Sunni-Shia conflicts or similar factors. This dynamic has existed for centuries, so who is reviving it today and what for?

There is not a single eminent scholar in the Islamic world who belongs to or supports ISIL. Nor is there a single book written by its leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. The only thing to be seen are videotapes and snapshots of appalling atrocities by creatures whose brains have been mutated by poverty, tyranny, failed education and a lack of development. These people found an open door in Iraq and Syria to take revenge for their meaningless existence in the hope of finding recognition with the sword and the Kalashnikov.

Writing for the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, Yassin Al Haj Saleh argued that a threefold plan will beat ISIL: military action, toppling the Assad regime and an intellectual confrontation.

Abdel Bari Atwan wrote on the London-based online newspaper Rai Al Youm that the rising threat of ISIL is causing strange new alliances that include Saudi Arabia and Iran – arch enemies until a few months ago.

The new Saudi-Iranian-Egyptian bloc is convinced that ISIL cannot be crushed without coordinating with the Syrian regime. This might be interpreted that the Assad regime would inevitably remain for a long transitional period, and the Egyptian authorities are beginning to have dialogue with the regime.

In just two years, ISIL has thawed relations between these historic foes, Saudi Arabia and Iran, caused a rapprochement between Cairo and Tehran, and drawn the US back into the turmoil of the Middle East.

Abdulrahman Al Rashid, in the London-based daily Asharq Al Awsat, downplayed the threat of ISIL against the Gulf states. Geographically, it is not possible unless the group has air capability, which is the not the case.

The closest place to the Gulf with ISIL presence is Ramadi, in Iraq’s Al Anbar governorate, near the border with Saudi Arabia. That is still more than 760km from Kuwait City and more than 1,400km from Riyadh and the land is mostly barren desert. It is utterly impossible for ISIL, no matter how strong it might be, to go by land to any Gulf country. ISIL fighters managed to cross from Syria to Iraq only because it was close and because of the security vacuum there as a result of weak authorities.

The Sharjah-based daily Al Khaleej noted in an editorial that western countries are finally contemplating a fight against ISIL because the threat it poses has grown so great that sitting on the fence is no longer an option.

It is not clear yet how western nations will counter ISIL and the statements coming out of the US and Europe indicate a sense of confusion and uncertainty. In the meantime, terrorist organisations continue to receive support and sell the oil from the territory they seized and to carry out transactions across borders as the world stands by.

Translated by Abdelhafid Ezzouitni