Millett, MP Khoury debate West’s role in rise of IS on Twitter

AMMAN – Twitter was the platform for a heated political debate this week between British Ambassador to Jordan Peter Millet and Jordanian MP Tarek Khoury over Syria. 

The debate started on Monday when Millet tweeted about a recent visit of UN mediator Staffan de Mistura to Damascus in an attempt to freeze fighting in Syria between regime forces and rebels. 

The ambassador expected the task to be difficult because of the barrel bombs used by President Bashar Assad’s regime against the rebels and the presence of the extremist Islamic State group, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), which occupies several cities in the war-torn country. 

“UN envoy working to stop the fighting in #Syria. Tough call with regime barrel bombs + #ISIL extremism. Good luck!” the British diplomat wrote on his Twitter account (@PeterMillet1).

But Khoury (@TarekSamiKhoury) responded to Millet’s tweet by accusing the West of being behind the chaos in Syria and the creation of ISIL.

“Syria is now the best example of Western intervention, evil of ISIL created and chaos everywhere supported by Western regimes,” he wrote.

Millet refuted Khoury’s accusations, saying that “#ISIL is not a product of ‘the West’. It was the result of #Assad’s brutal + violent response to popular protest.”

The debate went on, with the deputy signalling British and Western support to ISIL. “Interesting that main foreign fighters are from UK,” Khoury tweeted.

“If you think that British foreign fighters in #Syria + #Iraq are part of a ‘Western conspiracy’ you are sorely mistaken,” Millet replied. 

Khoury responded by saying that it is “not necessarily a conspiracy, but also not a natural birth of [Assad] oppression”, insisting that the West has turned a blind eye on purpose against the growth of ISIL.

Millet and Khoury are active Twitter users. The ambassador has 7,197 followers, while the MP has 4,818.