Muslim nations eye terror fight
Islamic military alliance led by Saudi crown prince
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Sunday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, vowing that extremists will no longer “tarnish our beautiful religion.”
Mohammed bin Salman’s words come as the Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.
However, the alliance doesn’t include Iran, Iraq or Syria, while member nation Qatar sent no one to attend the one-day Riyadh gathering amid a diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015, when the crown prince was still only the kingdom’s defense minister. Since then, his father King Salman has elevated the 32-year-old prince to be next in line for the throne in the oilrich kingdom. The crown prince also recently put a number of wealthy princes, businessmen, military leaders and others under arrest over corruption allegations at variousluxury hotels in Riyadh.
The alliance, initially announced with 34 nations, now includes 41, according to the Saudi government. Addressing the defense ministers and other high-ranking officials, Crown Prince Mohammed said Sunday’s meeting sends “a strong signal that we are going to work together and coordinate together to support each other.”
“The biggest danger of this terrorism and extremism is the tarnishing of the reputation of our beloved religion. … We will not allow this to happen,” he said. “Today we start the pursuit of terrorism and we see its defeat in many facets around, the world especially in Muslim countries.