Deal IS fatal blow before it's too late

By pledging that his country is determined to deepen cooperation with Iraq and help Iraqis in their war against the IS, Abbott perhaps wants to tell the international community that instead of being daunted by the Sydney hostage tragedy, Australia remains committed to the global efforts to rid the world of the threat of the IS.

Indeed, the world needs more ambitious and collaborative efforts to fight the IS militants which has transformed Iraq into a war zone once again. On Jan 2, the United Nations said 2014 was the deadliest for the Iraqi people since the waning of sectarian violence in 2006-07.

Last year, 12,282 civilians were killed and 23,126 injured in Iraq because of the rise of the IS. In December alone, 1,101 Iraqis were killed and 1,868 wounded in what the UN described as "acts of terrorism and violence". The IS militants launched their offensive against the Iraqi government at the beginning of 2014 and have continued to pose a major threat to the Iraqi people.

The deep divide in the Iraqi society and Iraqi security forces' inability to restore peace have created a fertile soil for extremist groups, including al-Qaida breakaway groups such as the IS. In fact, last summer the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of a lightning IS offensive, leaving a third of Iraq and Syria in the militants' hands.

Both from the short-and long-term perspective, the IS poses a big threat to Iraq, the Middle East as a whole and the world beyond. The onus is now on the international community to find the root cause of terrorism and deal a fatal blow to the IS before it spreads terror to other countries and regions.

The writer is a senior writer with China Daily. wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn