Saudi Arabia forms Islamic coalition to counter terrorism
Alliance to share information, train, equip forces if necessary
DUBAI/PARIS: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the formation of a military coalition of 34 countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, to fight “terrorism” in the Islamic world, in the latest sign of a more assertive foreign policy by the kingdom.
The new alliance will share information and train, equip and provide forces if necessary for the fight against Islamic State militants, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-jubeir said on Tuesday.
The move was welcomed by Germany and the US, which has been urging a greater regional involvement in the campaign against the militants who control swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
“Nothing is off the table,” al-jubeir said when asked whether the initiative could include troops on the ground. “It depends on the requests that come, it depends on the need and it depends on the willingness of countries to provide the support necessary,” he told a a news briefing in Paris. A statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA said the new coalition would have a joint operations centre based in Riyadh to “coordinate and support military operations”. The states it listed as joining the new coalition included Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and several African nations.
The list did not include Shi’ite Muslim Iran, the arch rival of Sunni Saudi Arabia for influence across the Arab world.
Tehran and Riyadh are ranged on opposite sides in proxy conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
The statement cited “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations, whatever their sect and name, which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorize the innocent.”
US defence secretary Ash Carter welcomed the announcement after arriving at Incirlik airbase in Turkey on Tuesday at the start of a regional tour designed to drum up support for the Us-led campaign against Islamic State.