More than three months after Iraq’s third general elections, a new prime minister is to replace Nouri al-Maliki, whose three terms as chief executive were the subject of much criticism.

Haidar al-Abadi, the new prime minister, starts with an advantage, for support to him has come not only from Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also from some of Iraq’s own Sunni tribes, which had felt alienated during Mr Maliki’s chaotic eight years as premier.

Yet, it would be naive to be optimistic about Mr Abadi’s ability to succeed at a time when Iraq and the region are undergoing one of their worst crises since the Anglo-American invasion in March 2003.

His first task is to form a broad-based government that could take on the challenge posed by the self-styled Islamic State, whose well-armed and highly motivated men have occupied large chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria and sent alarm bells ringing in regional states.

The IS has been ruthless in the territories it has captured, massacring not only Shias, Christians and the Yazidi minority but also Sunnis not on its side.

In Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, which it captured on June 10, its reign of terror forced a mass exodus, while its covetous eyes on Iraq’s oil-rich north have forced the autonomous Kurdistan government to seek American help after the IS militia routed the peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force, near Mosul on Aug 3 and captured a dam.

On Friday, the Security Council passed a resolution to ‘weaken’ the IS, while the US air force has already gone into action against the radical Sunni militias. But going by the abysmal success rate of America’s foreign adventures, it is safe to assume that the US military intervention is likely to help and legitimise rather than weaken the IS.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah warned that the IS posed a threat to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan because it could get recruits in these countries. Let us also note that in his Ramazan-eve speech, Saudi King Abdullah strongly criticised religious extremists and vowed not to let “a handful of terrorists ... terrify Muslims”.

A kind of consensus seems to be developing in the Middle East against mass murderers masquerading as holy warriors. The big question is whether the regional states will give up their differences and unite to resist what the Hezbollah leader calls “a monster”.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014