Is ISIL being selective with its terror targets?

What the Arabic press is saying about the reach of terror groups in this region.

A girl walks past the site after a suicide car bomb attack at the shopping area of Baghdad,. Ahmed Saad / Reuters

Early last week, Instanbul Atatürk Airport was hit by bomb attacks that left more than 40 people dead and scores more injured. A few day later, 20 foreign hostages were killed at a Dhaka cafe. Both attacks were admitted by ISIL.

Pondering these and other recent incidents, Abdullah Nasser Al Otaibi wrote in Al Hayat, the pan-Arab daily, that Iran and Israel had managed to remain out of ISIL's reach despite being caught in the crossfire of the regional chaos.

He puts forward several “hypothetical and uncorroborated views” as to why this might be.

“First, ISIL refrains from attacking either country because it is initially a product of the Iranian intelligence forces and hence operates in the regions of interest of its author.”

He says ISIL follows the logic of “sequenced operations” starting with its near enemies. It is waging its battles in the Arab region, but only to build an Islamic Sunni empire capable, upon maturity, of fighting the Shiite Iranians, followed by Israelis, Christians and the whole world.

“In Iran, the Shiites control all social, cultural and religious scenes and hold the reins of security, thus leaving no place for ISIL sympathisers or for those seeking to get out of the Shiites’ grip. In Israel, the Israelis control security points and have always purged their regions of any ISIL signs.”

ISIL's supporters follow a puritan Sunni school of thought and adopt a takfiri approach to other Islamic groups, including the Shia. Its apparent ideology is that Iran needs to be removed from the Islamic legitimacy.

Al Otaiba noted that the explosions and killings in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Islamic countries would instil two attitudes in non-followers: solidarity with the innocent in the name of Islam or solidarity with the innocent in the name of the nation.

The writer continued: “There are 20 million Sunni Iranians who are capable of penetrating the security network and making an attempt at it, regardless if they succeed or not.

“And what is possible in Iran is also possible in Israel; so why haven’t those who attack the Jews with cold weapons in the streets ever raised the ISIL banner?”

He concluded: “I believe that ISIL is active in the Arab region in a bid to create a security gap that would call for the great powers to interfere and occupy the region once again in the name of fighting terrorism.”

In the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Abdul Rahman Al Rashid wrote that ISIL does not necessarily represent an interconnected institutional group.

“It is rather a project, a headline, an ideology, electronic methods of communication and a leadership, similar to multinational companies that rely on technology in promoting and carrying out their business,” says the columnist.

The past decade has seen many signs of radicalism reach Bangladesh from the Middle East, through labour, radical preaching and fundraising for so-called charities.

“Bangladesh is not occupied by foreign armies nor is it torn by civil wars. Most of its people are Muslims and the vast majority are Sunnis,” Rashid noted.

“However, this has not prevented radicalism from finding an enemy to instigate the simple-minded, claiming that there is a western culture and decadence that ought to be fought.”