The appropriate arrangements shall be developed for coordination with friendly peace-loving nations and global bodies for the sake of supporting worldwide efforts to combat terrorism and to save worldwide peace and security.
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A fresh Saudi-headed Islamic coalition to fight terrorism train, equip and will discuss info and supply forces if necessary for the fight against Islamic State militants, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday.
“The coalition announced by Mohammed bin Salman is an effort to show Sunni-Muslim resolve against terrorism”, Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based senior adviser at Gulf State Analytics.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denounced worldwide “terrorism” and has itself seen an upsurge of attacks claimed by IS over the past year, against minority Shiites and members of the security forces.
Saudi’s King Salman “ordered that Saudi investments in Egypt exceed 30 billion riyals ($8 billion)” and that the kingdom “contribute in providing Egypt with its needs for petrol”, said a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency.
Pakistan, however, has counter-terrorism cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, according to NBC news, the United States has hailed the announcement of the anti-terrorism alliance. With so little required from members and so much divergence between them, and with so vague an objective, terrorists have little to fear from Saudi Arabia’s “coalition”.
The prince told a rare news conference that the Riyadh-based coalition will “be a partner in the worldwide fight against this scourge” of terrorism in the Islamic world.
So while plenty of Arab and Muslim countries are bombing targets in various alliances, Saudi’s announced coalition this week appears to be the first time so many are coming together.
In a tweet uploaded in its official twitter handle, Oman’ foreign ministry has welcomed the Saudi’s move to set up the coalition to fight terrorism.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara that his country backed the alliance’s formation.
But, such countries will have to go through a detailed process before joining the coalition.
The alliance’s full roster is Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen, the Palestinians, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Benin, Chad, Togo, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Comoros, Ivory Coast, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
Neither Iraq nor Syria are in the coalition, nor is Afghanistan.
“I think it’s right that the opposition is forming a group but it needs to be – and this is important – part of the Vienna process that includes all countries fighting against IS like the US, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia but also Iran and China”, she said.
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Saudi’s rival regional power, Shia Iran, and Gulf neighbour Oman, are also absent from the list.
