December 15, 2015 By Kyle Glen 0
In the wake of escalating
violence in the Middle East and North
Africa , Saudi Arabia
announced on December 14th a new coalition of 34 Islamic countries designed to
fight against “terrorism”. The
statement released by the Saudi government called on all members of the
coalition to “cooperate to combat
terrorism in all its forms and manifestations” and also to reject any
justifications or excuses for terrorism. Whether this coalition was put
together primarily for Saudi Arabia ’s
fight in Yemen or the wider
fight against ISIS has yet to be seen however.
In an official statement, Saudi
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said that terrorism was a
“disease” that the world was keen to
fight. He added that every Islamic country was already fighting against
extremism individually and so the coordination of efforts is extremely
important.
The Deputy Crown Prince also
mentioned that the countries of “Syria, Iraq, Sinai (Egypt), Yemen, Libya,
Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan” were currently fighting terrorism of their own
and that there would be a coordinated effort in these areas, although he stressed
that action in Iraq and Syria could only be carried out with the approval of
the “legitimacy” and the
international community.
Whether or not Saudi Arabia will see Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad as the legitimate leader of Syria
is another matter – Saudi Arabia
has been arming the opposition in Syria for some time and has
expressed repeatedly that Assad must go.
The countries involved in the
coalition are:
Arab Saudi,
The Deputy Crown Prince stressed
that there were 10 other Islamic countries that were not “outside the coalition” but insisted that they have measures to
take before joining the alliance. He declined to say who the other 10 countries
were.
There has been some criticism
that the countries involved in the Saudi-led alliance are all Sunni states,
which is likely because of Iran
and Saudi Arabia ’s
long-standing feud in the region. Saudi Arabia
and Iran are currently
indirectly at war in Yemen with
Iran
backing the Houthi rebels against the Saudi backed government, and with the
Saudi foreign minister recently saying that he won’t rule out the coalition
deploying ground troops to fight terrorism, the conflict could escalate even
further.
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