The mainstream and predominant narrative depicts Iran and Assad as fighting forces against the Islamic State.
Nevertheless, does ISIS actually serve the interest of ruling politicians in the Islamic Republic and Syria? Did Damascus and Tehran contribute in giving birth to ISIS?
Iran and its staunchest ally the Syrian government have been designated by the US State Department as state sponsors of terrorism.
A new report by the SAPRAC ( the Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee) titled " Germany and Saudi Arabia: The Alliance in Counter-Terrorism" sheds light on the nuances, complexities and interconnectedness between ISIS, Iran and Syria.
The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel has also reported on the complete restructuring of the terrorist organization "Daesh", containing the name of the organization's founder as well as its the real leader as well as his strategy.
In addition, the report reasserts President Obama's message that Riyadh has been instrumental in cooperating withe US and countering terrorism "That's how intelligence collected with Saudi Arabia helped us stop a cargo plane from being blown up over the Atlantic. These partnerships work." as well as the historical facts that Riyadh has been victim of terrorism for many years.
So, the question remains whether we should continue to believe in the dominant narrative spread by some media outlets or wether we need to analyze the facts more closely.
Based on the latest developments, is not reasonable to believe that the Islamic State is indeed benefiting Assad to stay in power and assisting Iran by justifying Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) regional adventurism and interventionist actions?
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Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an American political scientist, business advisor, best-selling author, and the president of the International American Council on the Middle East. Harvard-educated, Rafizadeh serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review. An American citizen, he is originally from Iran and Syria, lived most of his life in Iran and Syria till recently. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions, and he is native speaker of couple of languages including Arabic and Persian. He also speaks English and Dari, and can converse in French, Hebrew.
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