Clark B. Lombardi is JD, PhD, UW Law Foundation Professor of Law, and he is a Director of Islamic Legal Studies, University of Washington School of Law, and he is also Series Editor, Oxford Islamic Legal Studies

Clark B. Lombardi is JD, PhD, UW Law Foundation Professor of Law, and he is a Director of Islamic Legal Studies, University of Washington School of Law, and he is also Series Editor, Oxford Islamic Legal Studies. For discussing the day after the ISIS, and prospects of crafting successful and sustainable solution for addressing the challenges and turmoil of this region, as well as some other significant issues that this region grapples with, we have conducted an interview with Dr. Lombardi, and he answered our questions as the following:

GULAN: In September 2014 a global coalition was announced to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS, therefore we can say that the primarily objective of this coalition since then has been the destruction of self-proclaimed Islamic state by taking back Mosul and Raqqa cities, don’t you think a similar, but this time a political campaign should be launched or initiated for solving the structural, underlying and deeper problems that were responsible for creating enabling environment for the emergence of ruthless extremist groups like ISIS?

Clark B. Lombardi: Any military campaign against ISIS should be accompanied by a systematic program to help address some of the social and structural problems that have helped to fuel the rise of ISIS.

GULAN: If and when ISIS is destroyed, the foreign fighters that are in Syria at this moment will flee to neighboring countries, especially Turkey, which is the closest point for them, but the problem is that the majority of those foreign fighters carrying or holding European passports, to what extent returning those fighter will pose a serious threat to the European security?

Clark B. Lombardi: The presence of radicalized European citizens in Syria and Iraq is already creating a challenge for European security. European intelligence and security services are trying to track the movements of these Europeans and develop ways to contain any threat that they pose, without violating the constitutional rights of their citizens. To date, European countries have had different levels of success at this complex task.

GULAN: In addition to all challenges and difficulties, and disorder facing the Middle East, this region is also entangled with increasing and intensifying regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi Iran poses greater and substantial threat than ISIS, is there any base for expecting an eruption of major regional war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, or this is a far-fetched possibility?

Clark B. Lombardi: I do not believe that direct military hostilities are likely between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their rivalry, however, is complicating terribly the situation in the Middle East.

GULAN: Do you agree that ISIS has been able to eclipse Al Qaeda as the principal terror threat or prominent global jihadists? Particularly, the well-known terrorist organizations like Taliban and Boko Haram has pledged their allegiance to ISIS, and what would be the implications of the destruction of ISIS in Syria and Iraq on the war on terror?

Clark B. Lombardi: ISIS has evolved to become both the most visible and the most potent global jihadist organization in the world today. Notably, it has been able both to control territory and to export terror from that territory. It has also been able to leverage its successes. Because ISIS appears to be successful, it has attracted followers who help it defend its territory and to instigate more attacks abroad. The pattern could reverse itself. If ISIS were defeated in Syria and lost control of all its territory, jihadists who are currently allied with ISIS might switch their allegiance to another organization, or they might chose to operate independently. If so, ISIS’s leaders would lose some of their ability to direct violence outside the Middle East. Sadly, however, that the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq may change the branding and the organization of jihadist violence. So long as there are people attracted to the ideology of jihad, jihadism will exist, and jihadist violence will take place in ever evolving ways. It is for this reason that, as you noted above, military campaigns against ISIS must be accompanied by political and social campaigns designed to minimize the appeal of jihadism.

GULAN: Resolving the challenges of the day after ISIS, requires international commitment and efforts, just as happened with the Balkan area and the signing of Dayton, do you agree that a similar effort must be launched in the Middle East and this time the ethnic and national aspirations be taken into consideration in designing any successful and sustainable solutions?

Clark B. Lombardi: The crisis in the Middle East will not be resolved successfully until the representatives of its warring communities and a critical mass of the stakeholders in the region are all willing to meet together and negotiate a mutually acceptable solution. It is not clear what a mutually acceptable solution will look like. It is possible that the solution will be different from the internationally brokered solution that was worked out at Dayton for the Balkans. For example, the solution in the Middle East might be to leave the borders of states intact, but to require changes to the constitution of existing states.

GULAN: Kurds as stateless nation have been a potent and powerful force in holding back and rolling back ISIS, but the Kurds are fearful of been subject to Iraqi and Syrian oppression, so they think that best guarantee for protecting them from horrible atrocities they suffered in the past is establishing their independent state, what do you make of that, do you think that the Kurds are entitled to exercise self-determination right in form of secession?

Clark B. Lombardi: I am not an expert in the law of self-determination, and I do not know whether international law gives the Kurds a right to secede. It is important to remember that even if Kurds remain minorities within a larger national state, they can push for constitutional reforms to ensure that Kurdish interests are recognized and respected. For example, they could push for power-sharing mechanisms or federalism.