Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism alliance: a political message sketchy on details

[zenitzz]

US, Britain and others welcome announcement of 34-member coalition to fight terrorism, but some observers question Saudi motives

Saudi Arabia’s plan for a Muslim alliance against terrorism – announced at a press conference in Riyadh early on Tuesday – is designed to display determination to fight the jihadis of Islamic State and to help the west do so. But key details about how it will work and whether it will even involve military forces on any front lines remain unclear.

Announcing the creation of the 34-member group, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the conservative kingdom’s defence minister, was apparently responding to a call by Barack Obama for the Islamic world to do more in the war against Isis.

The Saudis, the UAE and Jordan have all taken part in US-led airstrikes in Syria, but have not deployed ground troops. The Saudis are preoccupied by the war in Yemen. And, in the current sectarian mood across the Middle East, every Sunni country has citizens who do not actively support Isis or al-Qaida but admire their perceived “fightback” against Shia groups and Iran, especially in Syria.

The surprise announcement appeared to be aimed for primetime TV in the US, where Barack Obama has presided over a sharp decline in relations with Riyadh amid mounting western criticism of Saudi policy on human rights, Yemen, Wahhabi intolerance and allegations of support for Isis.

It was welcomed by the US, Britain and other countries and extensively reported by Saudi-owned media. But western diplomats said there had been no prior consultation about the move and that little information was available.

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, said the coalition would share intelligence and deploy troops if necessary. “Nothing is off the table,” he told reporters in Paris. “A number of countries are in desperate need of assistance.” Military help would be considered on a case-by-case basis.


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/15/saudi-arabia-anti-terrorism-alliance-political-message-sketchy-details

[Balthazar]

Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism alliance? Not bad. I suppose that pedophile's alliance, aimed to protect children, is on the way.

[Snail2]

Saudi Arabian anti-terrorism efforts are a bit of an self-contradiction . Isn't it?

[croato]

I dont trust Saudis at all. They do this only cause bad media hits on them and secretly will do what they do all time. I hope we will soon have enough alternate energy sources so they can get back in stone age where they belong.

[galdur]

This so called alliance only includes Sunnis so it´s actually an alliance against Iran or at least an attempt. Anti-terrorism is just a cosmetic or perhaps a fancy name. Where did Al Qaeda come from, where did ISIS come from, or at least sponsored from? Remember, Germans were fuming against these Saudi wahabis just a few days ago. This is just a face-saving exercise. Do not take it seriously.

[vero]

The big question is...in the anti-terrorist alliance who will they be targeting as extremists and terrorists? Funny they haven't included Iran in the alliance, which leads me to wonder, are Shia muslims the terrorists in their eyes?

[vero]

news:

Pakistan Surprised to Be Included in Saudi-Led Alliance It Never Heard Of

Officials in Pakistan said Wednesday that they had not been consulted by anyone in Saudi Arabia before their nation was described as a founding member of a new, 34-country “Islamic military alliance” to fight terrorism announced late Monday night by the Saudi defense minister.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Aizaz Chaudhry, told reporters in Islamabad that he had asked his ambassador in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to find out how the error was made. Dawn, the Pakistani daily, reported that another senior official confirmed to the newspaper that the announcement blindsided Pakistan’s government.

“We came to know about it through news reports,” an unnamed source in Pakistan’s foreign ministry told Karachi’s Express Tribune. A Pakistani senator, Sehar Kamran, who serves on a defense committee and lived in Saudi Arabia for many years, also said she had heard nothing about the alliance until she was called by Reuters to comment on Pakistan’s membership.

“This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has named Pakistan as part of its military alliances without Islamabad’s knowledge and consent,” the Dawn correspondent Baqir Sajjad Syed reported. “The Saudis earlier named Pakistan as part of the coalition that carried out operations in Yemen and a Pakistani flag was displayed at the alliance’s media center. Pakistan later declined to join the Yemen war.”

Nine months of war between a Saudi-led military coalition and a Yemeni rebel group have left thousands of civilians dead, and appears to have given rise to a new branch of the Islamic State.

The formation of the new, Saudi-led alliance, announced by Mohammed bin Salman, the 30-year-old deputy crown prince who also serves as defense minister, appears to have caught more than one nation off guard.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/world/middleeast/pakistan-surprised-to-be-included-in-saudi-coalition-against-isis.html?ref=world

[xht]

Saudi Arabia, has been the ideological philosophy driving much of the terrorism this century. Saudis have created all terrorist groups. They have given birth to Wahhabism.

[bryant.coleman]

Wow.. what an oxymoron. An alliance composing of groups such as the ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar ash Sham and Jaish al Islam teaming up with the Salafists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fight against the secular regime of Bashar al Assad and the secular Kurds. And what will be the name of this new alliance... anti-terrorism alliance!!! 

[zenitzz]

Wow.. what an oxymoron. An alliance composing of groups such as the ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar ash Sham and Jaish al Islam teaming up with the Salafists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fight against the secular regime of Bashar al Assad and the secular Kurds. And what will be the name of this new alliance... anti-terrorism alliance!!! 

It does not make sense and it won't work. The Saudi family and its wahabi ideology is under the illusion that it can get away from a tide of its demise.

[vero]

Wow.. what an oxymoron. An alliance composing of groups such as the ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar ash Sham and Jaish al Islam teaming up with the Salafists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fight against the secular regime of Bashar al Assad and the secular Kurds. And what will be the name of this new alliance... anti-terrorism alliance!!! 

It does not make sense and it won't work. The Saudi family and its wahabi ideology is under the illusion that it can get away from a tide of its demise.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If we can make the good Muslims turn against the terrorists maybe it'll help everyone find a better normal. It seems to me the good Muslims are not doing anything to discourage terrorism against the infidels.

[bryant.coleman]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If we can make the good Muslims turn against the terrorists maybe it'll help everyone find a better normal. It seems to me the good Muslims are not doing anything to discourage terrorism against the infidels.

All these years we were trying that method. And it failed miserably. These "good" Muslims does not consider the ISIS and the Al Nusra as their enemies. They consider Christians and nationalist whites as their number one enemy. And you should also remember that more than half of these "good" Muslims would justify the suicide attacks, if it is done in order to "defend" Islam.

[bitsmichel]

Wow.. what an oxymoron. An alliance composing of groups such as the ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar ash Sham and Jaish al Islam teaming up with the Salafists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fight against the secular regime of Bashar al Assad and the secular Kurds. And what will be the name of this new alliance... anti-terrorism alliance!!! 

It does not make sense and it won't work. The Saudi family and its wahabi ideology is under the illusion that it can get away from a tide of its demise.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If we can make the good Muslims turn against the terrorists maybe it'll help everyone find a better normal. It seems to me the good Muslims are not doing anything to discourage terrorism against the infidels.

Supporting the enemy of the enemy like the good old days?

Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: