Why Saudi Arabia?
Purported Daesh recording calling for attacks puts Kingdom’s unrelenting fight against violent extremism in spotlight
Qatif and Riyadh in recent years. The holy sites of Islam have been no exception. In 2017, Saudi security forces thwarted a plot to strike near the Grand Mosque in Makkah, while 2016 saw multiple bombings in three Saudi cities, including one near the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. The new audio message attributed to Daesh suggests the extremist group has not abandoned its efforts to strike targets in Saudi Arabia, home to two of Islam’s holiest sites. The statement, posted on the “The Kingdom acts on a global group’s Telegram channel, came level. It helps maintain security in as the UAE on Monday formally the region and plays a very imporratified the US-brokered deal, tant role by exchanging intelknown as the Abraham Accords, ligence information with other which allowed commercial flights countries to maintain security and between Israel and the Gulf state stability,” Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri, a for the first time. Saudi political analyst and interna“The Kingdom supported tional relations scholar, told Arab normalization by opening its News. airspace to Israeli aircraft on “The world depends on its their flights to the United Arab security intelligence and its efforts Emirates,” a voice, purportedly of in the region in this field, and that Daesh spokesperson Abu Hamza is why terrorist groups such as Al- Quraishi, said in the recording. Daesh, Iran and others know the “The normalization agreements Kingdom’s great role. That is why are considered a betrayal of Islam. they wish to infiltrate Saudi Arabia, Our targets are plenty, starting inflict damage on the Kingdom, with striking and destroying oil and cross to the other side.” pipelines, factories and facilities Saudi Arabia plays a substanthat constitute sources of income tial role in the Global Coalition for the tyrannical government.” Against Daesh, second only to the Daesh, which at its 2014 peak US in the number of airstrikes it controlled a portion of the Middle has launched during the conflict. East that included large swathes of The Royal Saudi Air Force has Iraq and Syria, lost all its territoconducted 341 sorties in Syria and ries in March 2019 after suffering a allows its coalition partners tners to use string of military defeats. Its leader, its air bases. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was killed In 2015, under the in a US-led operation in October late King Abdullah that year. bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi The Th Saudi-led IMCTC, Although much depleted, Arabia established d headquartered headq in Riyadh, remnants of the group have the Islamic Military y includes almost 40 countries continued to inspire attacks across Counter Terrorism m under its i regional umbrella, the region, leading to fears of a Coalition (IMCTC) to with t the notable exception possible resurgence. “pursue terrorism until il it of Ira Iran, due to its role in Its latest call to attack the is eradicated completely,” tely,” funding fundi and supporting Kingdom is unsurprising, to borrow a phrase from terr terrorist groups such as HezB mmed nts however. Terror incidents bearing Crown Prince Mohammed Hezbollah. all the hallmarks of a Daesh operabin Salman’s statements on By contrast, Qatar, tion have occurred in the cities of the issue. despite de being a member
In a cryptic audio message, the extremist group Daesh has called on its followers to launch terrorist attacks against oil pipelines and economic infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia as retaliation for the Kingdom’s support for the UAE and Bahrain’s normalization of ties with Israel.
of the coalition, has offered only muted support for the campaign, particularly since the Anti-Terror Quartet of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Doha in 2017 over its funding and harboring of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Some of the Kingdom’s joint security initiatives include establishing state-of-the-art centers to counter extremist messaging online, locally and internationally. “The Kingdom plays the biggest role in the region in confronting all these militias, so they (Daesh) target it in this field,” Al-Shehri said.
In order to drive a wedge between these allies and stoke wider divisions, he says, an overarching aim of Daesh is to destroy the social fabric within Saudi Arabia and ruin the peaceful coexistence found there between Sunnis and Shiites.
Al-Shehri’s views are seconded by Dr. Hani Nasira, an Egyptian author and political analyst, who said that Saudi Arabia’s role as the region’s standard bearer for security cooperation makes it a prominent target.
“The tireless efforts deployed by the Kingdom and its allies in Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain in draining the sources of extremism, enabling moderation and peace, rejecting hatred and calling for dialogue, coexistence and global peace, made it the main target and the first enemy of all terrorist groups, whether Sunni or Shiite,” Nasira told Arab News. “The first operations of Al-Qaeda and Daesh outside Syria were in the Kingdom.”
However, it is not just the Kingdom’s fight against extremism that is a source of anger in radical Islamic circles. Saudi Arabia’s crucial position as a major oil exporter that feeds the world economy means any attack on its infrastructure can reverberate around the globe. This was seen in September 2019, when Iraniansupplied drones and missiles struck Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq and Khurais facilities, halving the Kingdom’s crude output.
“They believe that this oil goes out to the world, so if a problem occurs in the Kingdom, it will affect the whole world. A global crisis might occur, and that is exactly what they want, to cause disparity and a crisis in the world,” Al-Shehri said.
As part of Vision 2030, the Kingdom has undertaken a number of mega infrastructure projects, including the Red Sea Project and NEOM. These developments are designed to be the beating heart of the region’s trade and development sector, but at the same time, they present potentially high-value targets.
“I think these are all matters at the security, political and economic level, so for Daesh the Kingdom remains a target,” Al-Shehri said.
Using the Abraham Accords as grounds for attacking Saudi Arabia is nothing more than window dressing, he said. “These extremists are only looking for justifications and excuses for their conduct.”
Riyadh must nevertheless be fully prepared for opportunistic attacks by terror groups, Al-Shehri said. “If, God forbid, the Kingdom was unable to confront these terrorist groups or play a major role in this field,” he told Arab News, “attacks would come from everywhere, causing a state of chaos in the world.”