Terrorism34 Muslim states form new military alliance to fight terrorism
Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a statement published by SPA, the state news agency. A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE, along with Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, and several African states were named in the Saudi statement. Iran is not part of the new alliance.
Saudi Arabiahas announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a statement published by SPA, the state news agency.
“The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations center based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations,” said the statement, which was released on Tuesday.
CBS News reports that along list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE, along with Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan, and several African states were named in the Saudi statement.
The announcement cited “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations, whatever their sect and name, which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorize the innocent.”
Iran was not among the members of the coalition named by Saudi Arabia.
In a press conference, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, said that the campaign would “coordinate” efforts to fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan, but offered few concrete indications of how military efforts might proceed.
“There will be international coordination with major powers and international organizations … in terms of operations in Syria and Iraq. We can’t undertake these operations without coordinating with legitimacy in this place and the international community,” he said without elaborating.
Asked whether the new coalition would focus just on ISIS, Bin Salman said it would confront not only that group but “any terrorist organization that appears in front of us.”
For the last nine months, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab neighbors have been fighting Iran-backed Shi’a rebels in neighboring Yemen.
The United States has been arguing that the considerable firepower The Saudis and their Gulf allies have been using against the Huthi rebels in Yemen would better be used against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and other Sunni countries are nominally members of the U.S.-led coalition formed to fight ISIS, but their contribution to the actual fighting has been minimal because the Obama administrations has not presented them with a strategy to remove Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria or secure the rights of the Sunnis in Iraq.
A UN-brokered cease-fire in Yemen is going to be announced on Tuesday, allowing the Saudis to shift their attention to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.