Author Archives: Amer Al Sabaileh

Politics Author: - June 5, 2016

Addressing the causes, not the symptoms

The preparations for the battle of Raqa and Mosul, the base of ISIS, seem to continue. The US seems even to look for an exclusive victory over ISIS, an important goal that Obama’s administration has achieved before the end of its term.

The major pending questions in the area are: Does eliminating ISIS mean the end of the organization or terrorism? Is the world interested in eliminating ISIS or eliminating the continuous breeding of terrorist groups?

Most of the information shows that the coming battle with Daesh would be able to destroy the structure of the terrorist organization. However, it might lead to a very critical stage in any coming confrontation with any new terrorist organization such as “Daesh 2”.

In the confrontation with such terrorist groups, it is important to analyze carefully the issue of declaration of the caliphate by ISIS. Also, it will bring any coming confrontation to a dead end even if ISIS disappears and other new organizations appear. In a matter of fact, if any new terrorist group is born, then it will find itself as a successor of the declared caliphate, therefore; the dimension of security challenges in case of ISIS or any coming group will be always global and the threats will target all the details of civic life. Moreover, the evolution of this terrorist doctrine shows that the more groups breed, the level of violence and brutality tends to increase, which simply means that any coming group will be more brutal and violent than ISIS itself.

  The declaration of the Caliphate from ISIS side was kind of the declaration of the battle of “Armageddon”, the final battle that lives in the mind of many people from the battle of “Al Sham” and “Dabiq” to the invasion of Constantinople and Rome. Thus, the strategy of declaring the Caliphate managed to transform many persons to serve ISIS.

Remote extremists and Salafists, those who suffer form social, economic, political, and psychological problems all turned to be a timing bomb that is ready to explode anytime and any where in the context of the final battle and the victory of the Caliphate. In addition to that, the strategy of declaring the caliphate has opened a door for the “pilgrimage toward the terrorist group “this gesture has also put all the political systems that insist to build its identity on religious legitimacy in a kind of existential crisis, from the prospective of who represents Islam or the Sunni world. All this made the battle of some political systems with ISIS a battle on who owns the past and who is allowed to represent it in the present.

The battle today should be a progressive battle for change and a cultural battle for values. Meanwhile, insisting on making use of this battle politically would mean that there will be no solutions to face the source and reasons behind the continuous breeding of these extremist and terrorist groups. This would simply mean that the coming phase would witness a new conflict with very advanced brutal groups that will be viewed as an upgraded version of Daesh, called Daesh 2.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - May 30, 2016

Toward the Jordanian Renaissance

The 25th of  May 2016, Jordan celebrated it’s 70th Independence anniversary. From all sides, this is an important event for a country that faced many political and economic hardships. A simple look at the map of the Middle East shows also that Jordan presents an important model of stability compared with other countries that face serious challenges. However, in evaluating the level of progress and development, it is always imperative for decision makers not to fall in the trap of  such comparison, by  putting bad situations thorough which many countries are passing along with the situations in their country to convince themselves that things are on the right track. Changing is a continuous process,, and development is a progressive issue that people should always seek to imitate the successful models.

Many are the challenges that Jordan faces today, internally and externally. Locally, Jordan should focus more on building and implementing an effective de radicalization strategy. Focusing on making some concrete changes on the socio-economic situation of the rural zones, such as micro-economic projects that can make people feel productive by having better chances to participate in building their future.  This might be done by a wide national strategy that aims at achieving a real change in the socio-economic system which is capable of putting an end to the economic dependency on the state it self. Such procedure can seriously prevent any possible scenario of future uprisings by the frustrated, and unemployed youth. The Independence Day should be the motive to make decision makers in Jordan starts an evaluation process to revise the mistakes of the past and plan for a progressive future based on enlightenment and positive cultural reform.

From a regional point of view, It was really disappointing to see Amman losing a very important chance to be the cultural hub of Arab world, as the so called Arab spring, has made the Arab historical and cultural hub , Damascus, Beirut, Cairo and Baghdad, Jordan should have developed a plan that makes the Jordanian Capital “Amman” the place where culture evolves and develops.

The Jordanian Renaissance should be the target for the coming phase; the enlightenment movement should include all aspects of life; it should be a cultural movement that includes Art, Education, and above all the consolidate the concepts of pluralism, respect of diversity and rule of law. By doing this, then Jordan can start its real Renaissance and play a major role in re building the cultural scene of this region.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - May 30, 2016

من يرث الخلافة؟

مع تصاعد الاستعدادات الدولية للتعاطي مع معركة اجتثاث داعش من معاقلها الاساسية في الرقة و الموصل تصر الولايات المتحدة على التفرد في ادارة هذه المعركة و تجيير اي انتصار قادم لنفسها، و هذا بلاشك احد اهم الاهداف التي تسعى الادارة الامريكية لتحقيقها مع نهاية عهد الرئيس أوباما و اقتراب خروجه من البيت الابيض.

لكن يبقى السؤال الابرز هل اجتثاث داعش من معاقلها يعني نهاية التنظيم؟ و هل المجتمع الدولي معني بانهاء داعش او انهاء حالة التفريخ المستمر للتنظيمات و الخلايا الارهابية؟

الحقيقة ان كافة المعطيات تشير ان اي معركة قادمة مع داعش قد تكون قادرة على انهاء الوجود الهيكلي للتنظيم لكنها بلاشك قد تنقل الجميع الى مرحلة أصعب في المواجهة مع تنظيمات جديدة مما يمكن الاصطلاح على تعرفته ب “تنظيم داعش ٢”.

 ان اهم ما يجب التوقف عنده اليوم في اطار مواجهة التنظيمات الارهابية هو نقطة اعلان الخلافة من قبل تنظيم داعش و التي أوصلت المواجهة مع كافة التنظيمات  الى نقطة لا يمكن العودة عنها مستقبلا حتى في حال ولادة اي تنظيم جديد. فاي تنظيم قادم سيجد نفسه في مقام الوريث للخلافة و بالتالي فان التحديات الامنية القادمة  في حال زوال او بقاء داعش تبقى تحديات ذات طابع كوني و تهديدات تطال كافة الاماكن و مفاصل الحياة دون استثناء، لا بل ان اي ولادة لاي تنظيم جديد قد تسجل انطلاق مرحلة جديدة من التوحش و محاولات التفوق في أشكال الترهيب و الرعب على ما قام به تنظيم داعش الى الان.  

ان اعلان الخلافة من قبل داعش كان اقرب في صورته الى الاعلان عن معركة “ارمجدون” اي معركة المواجهة النهائية التي تسكن صورتها و تخيلاتها في مخيلة الكثيرين من معركة الشام  و مرج دابق، الى فتح القسطنطينية و روما. لهذا فان استراتيجية اعلان الخلافة عملت على تحويل الكثيرين الى ادوات يتم استخدامها مباشرة او توظيفها عن بعد لخدمة داعش من المنتمين الى الجماعات الارهابية، و  كثير من المتشددين و حتى اولئك الذين يعانون من مشاكل اقتصادية، اجتماعية، سياسية و حتى نفسية  كل اولئك تم تحويلهم الى قنابل موقوته قابلة للانفجار في كل مكان في اطار المعركة النهائية، معركة  انتصار الخلافة.

ان استراتيجية اعلان الخلافة من قبل داعش فتحت باب “الحجيج للتنظيم” ووضعت كذلك الانظمة التي تصر على ترسيخ وجودها عبر بوابة الشرعية الدينية في أزمة وجودية عنوانها ” الحفاظ على الشرعية” من زاوية الصراع على من يمثل الاسلام مما جعل المعركة الفكرية التي تقودها كثير من الانظمة هي معركة الصراع على الماضي و السيطرة على الموروث الديني.

المعركة اليوم هي معركة تجديد و تغيير، معركة ثقافية و قيمية، و ان اصرار الكثيرين على التعامل معها من باب التوظيف السياسي يعني باختصار ان لا حلول حقيقية ستقدم لمواجهة اسباب و روافد هذه الافكار مما يعني ان المرحلة القادمة هي مرحلة صراع جديد مع واجهة متطورة للتنظيمات الارهابية اي نسخة محدثة لداعش “داعش ٢”.

د.عامر السبايلة

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Politics Author: - May 23, 2016

Will Jordan pay the price for the Palestinian settlement?

Pessimism becomes the dominant sentiment when it comes to any possible future solution for the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. The “Two-State solution” seems to fade away, while on a practical level, the Palestinian issue is not anymore the core of attention in the Middle East. However, all the other crisis in the region seem to be interconnected with the Palestinian issue, especially in their consequences such as refugees, borders, security and normalization of ties with Israel.

     

From a strategic point of view, the most affected  country from the Palestinian issue is Jordan. Historically Jordan has paid the highest price of the consequences of the pending Palestinian crisis on all levels. Still, Jordan seems to face a new old challenge regarding the final solution of the pending peace process. Many analysts believe that the only valid resolution is the so-called “Jordanian option”; perhaps, with some modifications to the old plan of the US former President Ronald Reagan who suggested in 1988 that  a “Self-government by the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza would be in association with Jordan and not a separate state.”

       

Recently, many believe that it is really difficult to achieve a political solution for the Palestinian issue, nevertheless; a kind of practical solution would pass smoothly, particularly if these procedures are meant to facilitate the life of Palestinians specially in three major issues: borders, liberty of movement and security; a dimension where Jordan seems to be an essential part of such facilitation process.

     

Most of the proposals trying to revive the peace process are skipping the right of return for refugees, and recently they include the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Thus basically, such proposals show that any solution would be on the behalf of the countries that should settle the refugees or even expect to have more of them.

  On the political side, the Palestinian scene seems to be deeply fragmented. Fatah movement is passing through one of its worst times; many polls expect Hamas to win over in the West bank in any coming election. At the same time, same polls believe that Hamas might lose in Gaza but not leaving it, so the question in mind is what is the expected scenario also for Gaza? Mostly, will any radical movement appear on the scene? Or, would be also a kind of “Transfer” by Gaza’s people toward Jordan? 

     

Jordan should be ready to face the consequences of the failure in the peace process, and it should be cautious not to be the place where the negative impacts and the aftermath of the crisis appear. What Jordan needs today is a strong national strategy to face the coming risks that might threaten the country on all levels, politically and socially. The recognition of the Palestinian state is the first step that should be achieved before dealing with any kind of confederation.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - May 8, 2016

Scenarios in facing Daesh



Many experts, nowadays, attempt to investigate the various scenarios that ISIS might adopt in the coming future. The constricted situation in Syria and Iraq would push the organization to move en route for new spaces, i.e. Libya. Libya, one of the most attracting places for ISIS today; Libya’s wide geographical space, its borders with African countries, its chaotic status , and the shores on the Mediterranean has pushed the terrorist group to think of initiating  a new base there. ISIS would seize various factors to impose its brutal authority in Libya such as: the circumstances of political chaos in the country, particularly when Libya is still governmentally instable,. Such acts should call for international support through the security council which still will take more time to be achieved.

On the other hand, the preparations for the battle of liberation of Mousql and Raqqa from Daesh are still going on; USA, apparently, persists to have the key role in these operations. Although many reports have confirmed the interference of chemical weapons (Mustard Gas, Sarin) from Daesh’s side,  the expected reactions of the terrorist group are still hard to be predicted. This would make the US or any coalition very cautious regarding any direct military intervention. Reversely, losing the “Caliphate” main base means the fall of the so called “Islamic state”, yet the concept of the caliphate will not fall easily.  This means that the risk of having a new versions of Daesh claiming to be the caliphate’s representative will always be there.

The attack on Daesh in its base might provoke various reactions, above all, the attempt by the terrorist group to give a global dimension to its reactions. Most of the security reports believe that the phase that Daesh anticipates Al Raqqa and Mosul battles will seek to widen the battle by targeting different places to create a status of panic and disorder to the global security. The “surprise strategy” is the one expected to be adopted by Daesh, especially that many reports have highlighted many of the new tactics of the terrorist group, mainly the recruitment of “kids” and women to conduct operation.

Many are shocked by the various scenarios that Daesh might conduct. The terrorist group will struggle to conduct extremely brutal operations that will make up the loss of any territory, and at the same time prove that Daesh was not affected by any loss. The new confrontation that Daesh seeks to achieve will be a global one, where simply every country might be subjected to attacks. Therefore, “lone actors” maybe the main protagonists in any coming confrontation, as the recent events proved that one individual terrorist can drain the resources of many security services in any country while they are searching for him. What is needed today is avoid falling in the trap of terrorist threat and keep away from reacting wrongly to these risks.  The coming challenges might be untraditional ones; yet facing these risks should push decision makers not only to focus merely on security, but also to invest excessively in human building. Despite the fact that many security experts believe that the coming phase would witness some attacks in different countries, the major issue to do is to focus on how to eliminate the roots of terrorism along with taking precautions against the terrorist risks. In fact, if the continuous breeding of these groups continues, brutality and violence would increase, as the issue of declaration of the Caliphate by Daesh make many fanatics see the current battle as “Armageddon” or the final battle.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - April 22, 2016

تعطيل جنيف واحتماليات التصعيد العسكري على الارض

مع انطلاق الجولة الحالية من محادثات “جنيف 3″ بات من الواضح سعي فريق من افرقة المعارضة السورية للتعطيل المفاوضات عبر تبني لغة تصعيدية لم تكن حاضرة بهذه الصورة في جولة المفاوضات الماضية.

الفارق بين طبيعة تعاطي الجميع مع معطيات جولة الحوار الماضية و الحالية يشير ان محاولات التعطيل الحالية مرتبطة تماماً برغبة في تعديل موازين القوة عبر العودة الى التصعيدد العسكري على الارض في سوريا، هذا ما يفسر تصريحات افتتحاح المفاوضات التي ادلى بها قائد جيش الاسلام محمد علوش حول خيارات المواجهة العسكرية و العودة الى التصعيد العسكري.

تزامن هذه التصريحات و التصرفات يأتي مع تزايد الحديث عن عمليات ادخال سلاح نوعي و بكميات كبيرة الى الفصائل المعارضة الامر الذي يمكن تفسيره ان التعطيل الحالي هو عملية ايقاف للحوار السياسي و اعطاء مساحة للظهور العسكري لفصائل المعارضة على امل ان ينعكس هذا التصعيد على مسار المفاوضات بطريقة تعزز وجهة نظر فصائل المعارضة التي شعرت في الجولة السابقة ان المناخ الدولي لم يعد مواتياً لاحتضان جزء كبير من وجهات نظرها خصوصاً في موضوع خروج الاسد الفوري من السلطة. لكن مع تشكل مناخ اقليمي ساعي لاحداث تغيير في معادلة الحل السياسي عبر التصعيد العسكري فان تعطيل المفاوضات و السعي لتحقيق انجازات عسكرية على الارض تصبح اولوية هذا الفريق من المعارضة و الذي يتناغم طرحه مع المناخات الاقليمية المتشكلة في المنطقة.

لكن بالرغم من ان محددات العمل العسكري في سوريا اصبحت واضحة بالنسبة للجميع فهي موجهة حصرياً لمواجهة الارهاب “داعش و جبهة النصرة” الا ان فصائل المعارضة المدعومة اقليمياً تسعى في المقام الاول لكسر حصرية الجيش السوري في مواجهة الارهاب و احداث تغيير جذري في معادلة السيطرة على بعض المناطق الامر الذي يعني فعلياً انها تتحول الي شريك في الحل السياسي فالانجاز العسكري المفترض يسعى لاعطاء شرعية وجود لهذه الفصائل اولاً و يُمكنها من “تكييش” ما تقوم به على الارض سياسياً في جنيف، فتتحول من احد اطراف المعارضة الى الطرف الوحيد المؤثر في المعارضة. لكن هذا لا ينفي احتمالية الصدام مع الجيش السوري في اطار فرض السيطرة على مناطق جغرافية معينة مما يضع مسألة الهدنة امام تحديات السقوط، لكن تبقى هذه الاحتمالية في هذه المرحلة قليلة نظراً ان الثوابت التي تم التوافق عليها دولياً تشمل الحفاظ على المؤسسة العسكرية السورية  و مؤسسات الدولة السورية مما يعني ان التعطيل الحاصل في جنيف هو جزء من استراتيجية تغيير موازين القوى القائلة بان تغيير المعادلة في جنيف يكون عبر التصعيد العسكري في سوريا.

من المهم الاشارة ان نتائج تعطيل الحل السياسي في جنيف لم تعد مقتصرة على سوريا و داخلها بل على الدول المحيطة أيضاً مثل الاردن و لبنان، فاجتماعات “جنيف ٣” ربما تأخذ قديباً بعداً اكبر من البعد السوري السوري لتشمل بعداً اقليمياً، لهذا فان اي تصعيد على الارض في سوريا هو تصعيد ستكون ارتدادته على مجمل المنطقة.

د.عامر السبايلة

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Politics Author: - April 22, 2016

The continuous crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood





It was not unexpected act by The Jordanian Government to close the offices of the old Brotherhood. The government in Jordan has carried on the following legal procedures to consider the Brotherhood group unlicensed; this means that all its activities are illegitimate. Since the Fall of Brotherhood in Egypt, the aftershocks have also reached the Jordanian branch accordingly. The political failure to cope with the political changes has imposed the crisis within the Brotherhood’s Jordanian branch.

Straightforwardly and subsequent to the arrival of Brotherhood to authority in Egypt, the Jordanian branch had the new map of regional power brought to get the MBs power in Jordan. Therefore, their efforts primarily concentrated on carrying out the map of power through many procedures such as: making use of the fall of Bashar Al Assad in Syria. This was apparent in the MB tactics (which left the Jordanian domestic scene and focused completely on Syria); if Syria made the whole scene of power in favor of the Jordan’s MBs, it would, in fact, be absurd to witness MB praying more than 37 times in front of the Syrian embassy for the cause of “fall of Bashar.”

The fall of Mursi in Egypt, unlike the expectations of the MBs, caused a problem within the Group. Particularly that many youth from within the MB felt that the reason behind the catastrophic fall was the rigid leadership mind. The Jordanian branch was not far from MB’s crisis, however; same persons, language and mentality continued to run the scene. This domination has caused various fragmentations within the group, majorly; what happened with the so-called “Zamzam group”. After this division took place, it was customary to fight for the legitimacy of representation of the MB insideout. The problem within MB is much bigger than the problem with the Jordanian state; actually the problem with the Jordanian government is that of a group who refuses to recognize the need of change within the circle itself.

The Jordanian state has seized politically the status of chaos of the MB, yet it is important to notice that the level of crisis within the group is reflected upon the statements and behavior of its leader.  Some observers express a variety of concerns that the Jordanian step against the MB will legitimize the idea violence, provoked by the group, in Jordan.  The answer to these concerns shows that if such political group is willing to use violence, then the problem is in the doctrine of this group, which turns to be violent too. On the other hand, if this group would really consider violence as an option, they should be simply the target of the core strategy in combating terrorism. Inclusively, all this confirms that narration of many that MB is effectively a terrorist group.

The problem will be in the structure of MB, unless there are serious changes from within, on level of persons, language and way of thinking, otherwise; the current crisis has no way out to resolution.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - April 11, 2016

How to counter Sectarianism

Sectarianism seems to be one of the most risky issues that Arab societies should face in the coming future.  Having a fragmented society based on ethnical and religious criteria is seen as a recipe of chaos. However, the major question today is: How to escape the nightmare of sectarianism?

There are no immediate solutions for the sectarian thinking, yet decision makers should believe that this is a very long and complicated process that needs a serious and concrete prompt initiative.  This should begin by believing that today any glimpse of change is really needed in society. Nevertheless, any initiative should also begin by recognizing the problems within the society and getting out of any state of denial. Signs of sectarianism are apparent in many countries in the Arab region; it roots a sense of psychological divisions that usually anticipates the worst scenario of geographical divisions.

The only valid solution for facing this continuous fragmentation within societies is rebuilding the “Concept of the State” through restructuring a national identity that face the religious, ethnical, tribal, and geographical identities. Fortifying the sense of nation, restoring the state of law and saving pluralism are the only diagnosis to the problem of sectarianism. At the same time, there should be some serious work on the cultural performance of people by raising their awareness and invest more in the social consciousness. This should be conducted through a clear strategy inspired by the need of having an enlightening movement that leads to a cultural revolution. The aim of this Cultural Revolution should be giving people the chance to practice different models of thinking and lifestyle, pushing them to think in a wider prospective so their cultural performance and way of thinking become compatible with the coming challenges that the world is facing with the concept of “Global Citizen.” Otherwise, Limitations on the faculty of mind would lead simply to more fragmentation, more conflicts and less opportunity of peaceful coexistence. 

Applying an effective process to face sectarianism does not seem to be easy, but if there is a serious political willingness to do a change, then it is the time to seize any possible opportunity. The first step should focus on building thought movements, as this mission is mostly the work of “Elite minds”. These intellectual movements would put the bases to move to the successive phase of thoughts marketing and transform ideas to concrete actions.  Moreover, the most important thing in this phase is to extricate people from the intimidation that many powerful radical groups are practicing on them.  Menacing people of the “Inferno” is something psychological that represents the incapacity of those groups to deal with changes. Therefore, governments should believe that any change would provoke resistance. Consequently, this should not block the process of change, at least, if there is a real conviction to do changes.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - April 3, 2016

The new phase of fighting terrorism

Fighting terrorism is taking a new dimension making of this war an open war and making of all elements of life a potential target. This new open confrontation means that security measurements should go through a restructuring phase, not just on the level of technics but also on the whole concept of security, approach, goal, protagonists and antagonists.

The new style of terrorism is targeting the civil life everywhere, is putting more pressure on all life details, from traveling in public transportations to have some normal cultural activities like attending concerts etc. This simply means that the major target of the new terrorism is making life of people more complicated. At the same time this strategy proves to be so efficient in draining the resources of security systems making of its personnel more and more exhausted. Therefore, time element might be playing in favor of the terrorist doctrine.

Big part of the new terrorist approach is based also on a new style of confrontation “individual Vs security system” which means that a single individual might be able to distract a whole security system, which makes the battle against terrorism today a very hard mission. Therefore,  it is important to adopt a strategy that can involve normal citizens, making of them effective protagonist in facing the new trends of terrorism on level of awareness and collaboration, this should be done under the process of building information-sharing partnerships, which will definitely help in having a full control over the situation as it is impossible for any security system to control all aspects of civic life. Moreover, this new system “Police citizen” can highly protecting critical infrastructure and civic places from attacks.

 Although terrorist challenges seem to be global, yet there is a big difference in the style of challenges that different countries are facing. Risks that Arab Countries are facing are somehow different from many of the risks that EU countries are facing; therefore, the approach should not be always the same. It is important also to think individually of an effective approach to face the risks.

EU internal security challenges come from very limited sources of danger, yet it can be so harmful. While many Arab countries are considered a source of breeding for radical ideologies so it would be illogic to deal with the source of problem in EU the way it should be seen in some Arab countries. However recently the EU fighters have contributed in enhancing the level of terrorist tactics from media campaigns, psychological war, and even style of terrorist operations inside the cities. Still, the problem in the EU is not as grave as it is in countries that considered a place where terrorist doctrines are going through phases of serious evolution.

Collaboration and cooperative security are highly important to face the terrorist risks, still, each country should focus on passing its own test and making of its model a successful model to be exported instead of just focusing on slogans of cooperation.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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Politics Author: - March 28, 2016

New Security Challenges

Since the first intervention of the Russian military in Syria, the battle against ISIS has turned to a new breadth. The terrorist group started to broaden its targets map in order to prove its capacity of overruling everywhere; ISIS targeted vital civil posts to create a state of panic, and put more pressure on security services. These new tactics have brought new-fangled challenges to the security services, especially; to those who have been going through a very crucial period; it has become a nonstop alarm for over five years now. The biggest challenge lies in how all neighboring countries of Syria and Iraq will face the continuous crisis in the region, particularly; in a time when all risks are not only restricted to the terrorist threat, but also from the transnational organized crime that has been developing during the crisis.

The recent terrorist escalation shows that the majority of the security services are facing a variety of challenges, to keep up with the rapidly evolving leaps on levels of the crime, the complexity of the new tactics, and approach of the continuous breeding terrorist groups.

Having understood the level of risks that the world is witnessing nowadays should urge decision makers to adopt new strategies. Such strategies should be based on building the capacity of security services to be highly compatible to face professionally both terrorism and organized crimes.

This type of performance should focus also on enhancing the level of professionalism, sense of responsibility and commitment inasmuch as one miniature mistake today will cost a big price indeed. Moreover, these strategies should not exclude an immediate application of a de-radicalization plan by both military and civic sectors. Many studies show that radical signs started to be publicly notices in military sectors in various countires.

While keeping up with professionalism and combating radicalization are the major challenges of many security systems in the Arab region, European security services seem to have a different kind of challenge. European countries are obliged to revise their internal policies and to reform the way they have been dealing with many security and political issues. Most prominently, they need to deal with the current risks using an innovative approach by terminating the “closing eye” policy that made Europe having the enemies from within. This procedure requires more harmony among the institutions on the level of cooperative security. It is ludicrous to realize that some EU countries were paying, monthly, the unemployment fee of 600 euros to people who were fighting in Syria; while in the traditional scene they end up unemployed in the country. For the Belgium case, a walk around the main rail station was more than enough to make any analyst predict the level and the kind of extremism which dominates the scene there. Thus, to be surprised today from reaching this point is not logic.

Facing terrorism results into constructive challenges that get higher and higher; facing it with the traditional security methods seems to make it a lost battle. For example, there is no security service in the world that is capable of checking all people everywhere, or stops the civilian life with all its complicated details. Security measures, in particular, can be applicable just in sensitive areas, but recent developments show that terrorist groups are not interested in reaching these points to achieve their goals. Therefore, using methods of precautions to prevent such risks is more of “Intelligence work” than the police work.

It is central to deal with the new terrorist approach by enhancing the level of cooperative security, and understanding from the mistakes. Simultaneously, security concerns should not postpone the urge to apply a de-radicalization strategy; the real battle lies in the cultural and the social change, the way of life and style of thinking. Such battle can never be won merely by means of weapon or anti-terror operations.

Dr. Amer Al Sabaileh

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