Muslims Attacking ISIS--Story 1

Saudi Arabia forms alliance of 34 Muslim nations to fight ISIS and tackle 'the Islamic world's problem with terrorism'

 December 17, 2015  dailymail.co.uk, Julian Robinson

• Coalition to include members from across the Middle East, Africa and Asia
• Saudi Arabia has called it a bid to 'save international peace and security'
• The group includes powerful gulf states Egypt and Turkey – but not Iran

Saudi Arabia has formed an alliance of 34 Muslim nations to fight ISIS and tackle 'the Islamic world's problem with terrorism'.

The Saudi-led coalition, which will be based in Riyadh, includes powerful gulf states Egypt and Turkey but excludes Iran.

Alliance members from the Middle East, Africa and Asia will work from the capital 'to coordinate and support military operations to fight terrorism', according to the SPA state news agency.

Saudi Arabia has formed a coalition of 34 countries to fight terrorism including powerful Gulf states, Egypt and Turkey but excluding Iran (file picture)

Saudi defence minister and crown prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud said the aim was to tackle 'the Islamic world's problem with terrorism and will be a partner in the worldwide fight against this scourge.'

Arrangements would be made for 'coordination with friendly peace-loving nations and international bodies for the sake of supporting international efforts to combat terrorism and to save international peace and security', SPA added.

More than 10 other 'Islamic countries' had expressed support for the coalition, including Indonesia, it said.

The United States has called for broader international participation in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

It said Turkey needed to do more to control its borders with Syria, and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states had been distracted by the conflict in Yemen.

The announcement said the alliance is being established because terrorism 'should be fought by all means and collaboration should be made to eliminate it.'

The United States has called for broader international participation in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria (file picture)

The statement said Islam forbids 'corruption and destruction in the world' and that terrorism constitutes 'a serious violation of human dignity and rights, especially the right to life and the right to security.'

The new counterterrorism coalition includes nations with large and established armies such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt as well as war-torn countries with embattled militaries such as Libya and Yemen.

African nations that have suffered terrorist attacks such as Mali, Chad, Somalia and Nigeria are also members.

Saudi Arabia's regional rival, Shiite Iran, is not part of the coalition. Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposite sides of in the wars raging in Syria and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is currently leading a military intervention in Yemen against Shiite Houthi rebels and is part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

'Currently, every Muslim country is fighting terrorism individually … so coordinating efforts is very important,' the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince said.

Smaller member-states included in the coalition are the archipelago of the Maldives and the island-nation of Bahrain.

Other Gulf Arab countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also in the coalition, though notably absent from the list is Saudi Arabia's neighbor Oman.

But Iraq and Syria whose forces are battling to regain territory taken by ISIS and whose governments are allied with Iran are not in the coalition.

Benin, while it does not have a majority Muslim population, is also a member of this new counterterrorism coalition.

All the group's members are also part of the larger Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is headquartered in Saudi Arabia.