The center will be located in the capital Riyadh and will coordinate military operations.
Advertisement
A new Saudi-led Islamic coalition will share information and train, equip and provide forces if necessary for the fight against miltants such as Islamic State and al Qaeda, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday.
The military alliance will not be limited to fighting Islamic State, but tackling terrorism more broadly. Spokesman Mohammed Momani would not comment specifically on the alliance but said that “Jordan is always ready and actively participates in any effort to fight terrorism”.
Iran has led military efforts along with the Iraqi army and volunteers in the fight against IS in Iraq. He said the alliance will fight it wherever it is in the world.
Saudi Arabia has been on the target list of the self-proclaimed Caliphate terrorist organization. “Of course, in connection with operations in Syria and Iraq, we can not carry out these operations but only through coordination with the legitimacy in both of them and the global community”, the deputy crown prince said.
Asked if the new alliance would focus just on Islamic State, bin Salman said it would confront not only that group but “any terrorist organisation that appears in front of us”. “We will work and take actions to fight it”.
According to the SPA, the coalition was formed within the framework of a previous anti-terrorism agreement signed by Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.
Other alliance members are Tunisia, Lebanon, Libya and Egypt. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia are also part of the alliance.
Smaller member-states included in the coalition are the archipelago of the Maldives and the Gulf Arab island-nation of Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Meanwhile, UN brokered peace talks between Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the country’s Shiite rebels begun in Switzerland as the guns went quiet across Yemen and air raids from a Saudi-coalition targeting the rebels were halted.
Whether the new coalition amounts to any real change in fighting ISIS remains to be seen.
Talking to journalists on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said he had not been aware of his country’s inclusion until he read the news reports.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised the new coalition Tuesday, stating that it is the strongest answer to those trying to link terrorism to Islam.
The Muslim countries are uniting to join the antiterrorist struggle.
Advertisement
More than 10 other “Islamic countries” had expressed support for the coalition, including Indonesia, it said.
