Skip to main content

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan Join Strikes Against ISIS



The Royal Saudi Air Force participated in US-led bombing strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) insurgents in Syria, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam, has funneled cash and arms to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but has also opposed Islamist militants within the anti-Assad insurgency.

“An official source revealed that the Royal Saudi Air Force took part in military operations in Syria against the Islamic State group and to support the moderate Syrian opposition, within an international coalition, to combat terrorism..., and to support the fraternal Syrian people in returning security, unity and development to this devastated country,” SPA said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal Al Saud told SPA that the war against terrorist organizations would take years and require hard work and commitment from all parties.

“Today we face a very dangerous situation where terrorist cells have turned into armies that extend to all of Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen,” he said.

“Faced with these dangerous facts, today we are required to take serious policy decisions to confront this vicious attack with full force. We need to move with assertive steps and fast,” he added.

Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said that Saudi pilots returned to their home bases safely after performing their duties “successfully and effectively” against Daesh (Islamic State) fighters in Syria, SPA reported.

“Muslim scholars emphasized the corruption of the ideas and actions of Daesh and said that they harm the image of Islam and distorted its meaning to show that it's based on murder and decapitation,” said SPA.

Jordan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had already acknowledged participating in the bombing runs against Islamic State and other radical Islamist fighters in eastern Syria. Qatar said it had a supporting role.

It is the first time since the 1991 Gulf War that Arab states have made common cause to join US-led military action, and it took the menace of Islamic State to persuade them that any public backlash is a price worth paying.

In recent decades the Saudi Armed Forces had engaged in combat only within their own borders and had not sent warplanes on missions further afield.

A Gulf security source familiar with the air strikes said the Saudis had sent four F-16 fighter jets, the UAE contributed four warplanes, Bahrain two and Qatar a Mirage jet which did not drop any bombs or take an “active part” in the attack.

The source said US fighter jets took off from the USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier based in the Gulf and US Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM), alone and with the aid of allied nations, has carried out 198 airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) targets in Iraq and Syria since August, US Department of Defense said Wednesday.

CENTCOM specified that eight of the total of 20 airstrikes, carried out in Syria, were conducted solely by the US Forces. It also noted that US military used a “mix of attack aircraft, bombers, fighters and remotely piloted aircraft,” in its anti-IS strikes on the Syrian territory. (Reuters; SPA)

Photo: In a handout picture released by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Saudi Arabian Air Force pilots pose for a photo at an undisclosed location after taking part in a mission to strike Islamic State (ISIS) group targets in Syria on September 23, 2014.

Source: AFP; SPA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has
Post a Comment
Read more

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif
1 comment
Read more