The remnants of the Daesh terrorist group have been flushed out of their last strongholds in Iraq and Syria in recent days, spelling the end of the self-proclaimed Takfiri caliphate. The recapture of these areas marked an end to Daesh’s reign of terror, which started in the two Middle Eastern countries three years ago. Press TV has talked to independent researcher and journalist Janice Kortkamp as well as writer and lecturer Jonathan Fryer about this subject.

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Janice Kortkamp believes the United States is going to “relocate” the Daesh terrorists so that it can justify its “illegal” operations in Syria, even though their “caliphate” has been defeated.

The United States is only pretending to be fighting Daesh, she said, adding it is in fact Washington that has enabled this terrorist group to grow in the first place.

“So I think this is an excuse to stay in Syria and continue working on this partitioning that has been the basis of our foreign policy in the Middle East – that so happens to coincide with Israel’s desires there – and I think we are just going to use any possible justification to try to mislead the American people to continue our support for this illegal mission,” she explained.

further noted the reason why the United States is not making a big story out of the fall of Daesh is that it would have to admit that its mission in Syria is basically over and that it should finally get out of the war-torn country.

She highlighted the need for a political solution that would recognize the sovereignty and independence of Syria as well as continued efforts to completely eradicate Daesh terrorists; otherwise, they will keep up their atrocities.

Daesh started its campaign of terror in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and swiftly seized a territory roughly the size of Britain after declaring a cross-border “caliphate.” It also managed to radicalize and recruit thousands of youth from a number of countries and turned them into ruthless militants.

Meanwhile, the other panelist Jonathan Fryer stated that although the caliphate of Daesh may not exist anymore, there are several thousand supporters of this terrorist group who are going to take the battle into Europe and the United States.

He also disagreed with the idea that the United States has plotted to create Daesh in order to destabilize the Middle East, suggesting that people should try to avoid seeing things “entirely in black and white” or “in terms of a conspiracy.”

The analyst went on to say that Washington has never intended to deploy ground troops in Syria because of the legacy of the Iraq invasion, asserting that the US military effort directed against Daesh was mainly air-power which itself became rather controversial due to the destruction of the Syrian city of Raqqah.

In other remarks, Fryer further denounced Saudi Arabia’s “aggressive foreign policy” in the region, arguing that Riyadh should try to calm down the situation rather than aggravate it and work with the Iraqis and Syrians to help rebuild their countries shattered by years of war.

PressTv