Pat Kenny was joined by the Independent's Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk to discuss the what has been a tumultuous year in the region.

Islamic State 

Mr Fisk described the Islamic State's (IS) dismantling of the Syria / Iraq boarder as a "historic and frightening occasion."

When asked to clarify exactly who the IS fighters are, Mr Fisk replied that he has been asking the same question all year, adding: "I think it's a cult. It's not a religion - it's a cult. A lot of religions give birth to cults of this kind. It obviously feeds on deep sentiments of resentment, humiliation and hatred within the various communities in the Middle East."

Mr Fisk says that it feeds off of a sense of humiliation caused by the treatment of the Palestinians and the Kurds, as well as the US occupation of the region.

The foreign correspondent also spoke about some IS publications that he had seen in the region, which celebrated mass-executions: "It's a kind of worship of death, a necrology, not an ideology."

He also spoke about spending time with government forces in Syria - comparing the conflict to the battle between German and Soviet forces on the eastern-front during World War II.

Continuing on the Syrian conflict, Mr Fisk says that the Syrian army has lost up to 46,000 soldiers.

He also comments that he doesn't believe that IS is as sophisticated as the US thinks it is.

Solutions

Mr Fisk says that it the US and Iran could reach an agreement over the Iranian nuclear programme, and decide to try to stop the fighting in Syria, the Syrian conflict could be halted within "24 hours."

He thinks that the US may make concessions to Iran to bring it "back into the fold."

After almost 39 years in the Middle East, Mr Fisk concludes that the region has never been more dangerous: "These extraordinary forces have been unleashed. We don't understand them. I suspect we don't want to understand them. And we don't know how to defeat them".