“The [National Security] Council, chaired by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz …, looked into the developments and repercussions of [events in Iraq],” the Saudi Press Agency said.
“Keen on safeguarding the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia vis a vis possible actions by terrorist organizations or other [groups] to tamper with the security of the nation, King Abdullah … ordered that all the necessary measures be taken to protect the nation’s gains and territories as well as ensuring the safety and providing stability for the proud Saudi people,” the agency added.
Saudi Arabia is one of several countries bordering Iraq, where the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki is facing a growing Sunni insurgency spurred by what critics of the Iraqi leader say are his sectarian policies.
Last week, Riyadh denounced Baghdad’s “exclusionary and sectarianism” policies and called for the formation of an inclusive national government.
Maliki has rejected calls both from within and outside Iraq for him to step down and vowed to crush the Sunni uprising which is spearheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, ISIL).
Last Update: Thursday, 26 June 2014 KSA 18:02 - GMT 15:02
26/6/14
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King Abdullah ordered all necessary measures to protect Saudi Arabia against potential "terrorist threats" after chairing a security meeting to discuss the fall-out from Iraq, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday....
ReplyDeleteThe world's top oil exporter shares an 800-km (500-mile) border with Iraq, where the militant Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other Sunni Muslim groups have seized towns and cities in a lightning advance this month.
Riyadh has long expressed fears of being targeted by jihadists, including some of its own citizens, who have taken part in conflicts in Iraq and Syria, and earlier this year decreed long jail terms for those who travel overseas to fight.
"Concerned for the national security of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any measures that terrorist organisations or any other groups might resort to ..., (the king) has ordered all necessary measures to protect the gains of the homeland and its stability, and the security of the Saudi people," SPA said.
King Abdullah acted a day before he was due to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jeddah to discuss the crisis in Iraq and Syria, and a day after two Saudi men were involved in a suicide bombing in Lebanon.
The Saudi ambassador in Lebanon said on Thursday he was not able to rule out that Wednesday's attack in a Beirut hotel, which killed one of the Saudis and injured three security guards, was intended to target the embassy, located nearby.
Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has been one of the biggest supporters of mainly Sunni rebels in Lebanon's neighbour Syria fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Riyadh's main regional adversary, Shi'ite Muslim Iran.
However, it has shied away from arming rebel groups like ISIL that it fears are connected to al Qaeda, which waged a campaign of attacks inside the kingdom a decade ago led by veterans of jihad in civil wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia's envoy in Lebanon, Ali Awad Asiri, said it was important to find out who was behind Wednesday's bombing in Beirut, in which local security forces said the Saudi bomber was killed and another Saudi wounded and then arrested at the scene.
"We want to know why a Saudi citizen was involved in such a criminal act," Asiri told television channel al-Hadath. His comment that the attack may have been directed at the Saudi embassy came in a later interview broadcast on the al-Arabiya channel.
"We need to know how they were lured into this, who finances them, why they were in that place to carry out this criminal act. We have special ties with the security forces in Lebanon and the Lebanese government," he said.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jun-26/261700-saudi-king-orders-measures-against-terrorism.ashx#ixzz35lfPcJMz
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
26/6/14