Dec 15 , 2015
News
Pakistan part of 34-state Islamic military alliance against terrorism
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on Saudi news agency SPA.
“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,” the statement said.
A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, together with Islamic countries Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and Gulf and African states were mentioned. The announcement cited “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organisations whatever their sect and name which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorise the innocent.”
Iran - Saudi Arabia’s archrival for influence in the Arab world - was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen.
The US had been increasingly outspoken about its view that Gulf Arab states should do more to aid the military campaign against the ultraviolent Islamic State militant group based in Iraq and Syria.
In a press conference, Saudi crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman told reporters on Tuesday 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 organisations 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,” Prince Mohammad said.
Responding if the new alliance would focus just on Islamic State, he said that it would confront not only that group but any terrorist organisation that appears in front of us.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab neighbours had been locked in nine months of warfare with rebels in neighbouring Yemen, launching hundreds of air strikes there. Especially after a rash of attacks on Western targets claimed by Islamic State in recent months, the US had increasingly said that it thinks that firepower would better be used against IS.
As a ceasefire was set to take hold in Yemen on Tuesday alongside UN-backed peace talks, Riyadh’s announcement may signal a desire to shift its attention back towards the conflicts north of its borders.
Islamic State had pledged to overthrow the monarchies of the Gulf and had mounted a series of attacks on mosques and security forces in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk