“It depends upon the requests that come, it depends upon the demand and it is dependent upon the readiness of states to provide the support necessary”, he told a a news briefing in Paris. “A number of countries are in desperate need of assistance”, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said.
Advertisement
“The coalition will have a joint operations center in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations”, SPA said.
The coalition’s 33 other countries are: Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, Turkey, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Benin, Chad, Togo, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Palestine, The Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Niger, Bahrain, Tunisia, Nigeria, and The Maldives.
“We are hitting them harder than ever”, he said in a second address on this issue following a seemingly ISIS-influenced attack in San Bernardino, California, that has raised questions about his strategy. But, such countries will have to go through a detailed process before joining the coalition.
The alliance will perform the duty to protect the nations from the evils of all armed groups and terrorist organizations – whatever their doctrine or title – which spread killing and corruption in the world and are created to terrorize the innocent, the statement highlighted.
The U.S. State Department welcomed the new alliance.
The alliance does not include Iraq and Syria, whose governments are backed by Tehran and where Daesh has proclaimed its state.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab neighbors have been locked in nine months of warfare with Iran-allied rebels in neighboring Yemen, launching hundreds of air strikes there.
However, Saudi’s neighbouring Islamic nations such as Iran, Syria and Iraq were excluded from the alliance.
The decision to form the coalition is part of a broader effort by Saudi Arabia to establish itself as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world’s battle against terrorism.
The Senior Scholars Council commended the announcement of the formation of the Islamic military alliance.
A joint statement by the Arab coalition forces has announced the formation of an military alliance comprising 34 countries to fight against terrorism.
Major powers and global organizations will coordinate with each other in operations within Iraq and Syria since Saudi Arabia can not conduct operations without coordinating to ensure its legitimacy, said bin Salman.
However, he offered few concrete indications of how military efforts might proceed.
Advertisement
The foreign secretary said Wednesday that he had no knowledge of Saudi Arabia’s decision on the inclusion of Pakistan in the 34-country coalition, adding that Riyadh never gained Pakistan’s consent for the move.
