The new strategy of the Islamic State

The global strategy of the Islamic State to compensate for the loss of sovereignty over Syrian and Iraqi territories is based on confrontation within Islamic radicalism, to assume a position of pre-eminence within groups rooted in national realities. If the aim in Afghanistan is the Taliban, in Palestine it is the Hamas organization, this because the Islamic State intends to carry on a battle outside the nationalities to follow the affirmation of a transnational Islamism, where the local claims are seen as an obstacle to the spread of the holy war. The fact that both the Taliban and Hamas are among the Sunnis (even if the Taliban of a different current) does not take them away from an open hostility of the caliphate forces, which tries to make the comparison more extreme, also with a view to spreading the their ideals through the weakening of those organizations that can potentially steal recruits and investments. It becomes singular that both the Taliban and Hamas, are united to the Shiites and Christians, as objectives to be fought. If the Islamic State were to continue in this strategy and win some success, the danger of progressive destabilization could be very concrete; in this context the declaration of war on Hamas contains important implications that must not be underestimated. First of all, the Islamic State is trying to settle in the territory of the Sinai Peninsula: it is a strategic area to attack Hamas, Egypt and even Israel itself, which is the most important media target. Nor is the will to try to enter Egypt to proselytize, in a country that is going to the elections and where the discontent of the Muslim Brotherhood could offer an opportunity to be channeled towards terrorism. Concerning Hamas, the criticism of the Islamic State also relates to the alliance that the Palestinian organization has underway with Iran and Hezbollah, both of them Shiite. The approach of Hamas, whose members are Sunni, to the Shiites has been a forced move since all three subjects have as main enemy the Israeli state. One of the consequences and also of the responsibilities of Tel Aviv and Washington was precisely to push Hamas to Iran, due to the senseless policy of expansion in the Palestinian territories, the discrimination of the population of the Gaza Strip and, lastly, the unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state by the United States. This contributed to the success, albeit limited for now, of the Islamic State among the Palestinians, who see in the caliphate a sort of last chance to fight Israel effectively. For now in Tel Aviv they do not seem to be worried by the presence of the Islamic State a few kilometers from the Israeli territory, in fact the greatest fears always concern the threatening presence of Hamas; this detail could see favorably, on the Israeli side, an increase in the confrontation between the Islamic State and Hamas with a view to downsizing the Palestinian organization. This eventual attitude, added to an underestimation of the presence of the Islamic State in Sinai could prove to be very dangerous for the regional balances and the security of Israel. On the other possible reasons of the confrontation with Hamas, by the caliphate, it should be remembered that in the initial phase the Islamic State has probably received funding from several Sunni states, which aimed to bring down the Assad regime and destabilize the Sunni part of Iraq , for the presence in Bagadad of a government expressing the Shiites. The danger that this part of history will repeat itself, even given the different attitude of the White House, in function against Iran and therefore against Teheran's allies is a possibility not to be discarded, given that the balance of the region has not settled at all despite the end, or presumed, of the Syrian conflict. Maneuvering a group like the Islamic State, made up of fanatics often devoted to martyrdom, does not seem too difficult, more complicated would be to remedy the possible disasters caused by a possible support to the caliphate.