Saudi Arabia: seeking security (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

From Twitter referring to a Saudi MInistry of Information press release:

MoI gives more detail of IS infiltration attempt. 2 killed when confronted by BG patrol 1 used SVEST during attempt to convince to surrender.
Two more killed after being surrounded inside Saudi Territory with one using SVEST. They carried grenades, assault riffles, and SVEST's cash

I understand ISIS hates the KSA regime, but why try this?

(Added) A little more in the NYT, minus anything to say it was ISIS:www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/world/middleeast/saudis-report-deadly-border-clash-with-infiltrators-from-iraq.html?

[davidbfpo]

It later emerged that one of the dead soldiers was no ordinary border guard but the commander of Saudi Arabia’s northern border forces, Brigadier General Awdah al-Balawi. This suggests that the attack, far from being random or opportunistic, had been carefully targeted and perhaps based on inside information regarding the general’s whereabouts.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...cal-links-isis

The wider problem:

...it is in no position to confront Isis at the ideological level. The problem here is that Isis and the Saudis’ Islamic kingdom are ideologically similar, so attempts to challenge Isis on ideological grounds risk undermining the Saudi state too.

[davidbfpo]

The Saudis are building a 600-mile-long “Great Wall” - a combined fence and ditch - to separates the country from Iraq to the north. ....The proposal had been discussed since 2006, at the height of the Iraqi civil war, but work began in September last year after Isil’s charge through much of the west and north of the country gave it a substantial land border with the Kingdom to the south.

Link, which ahs a map and graphic:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-out-Isil.html

[davidbfpo]

A WaPo article 'How Saudi Arabia’s harsh legal punishments compare to the Islamic State’s', from which the Twitter image originates from. As the author concludes relationships with partners are rarely completly "black -v- white" regarding common standards:

...for many Americans, the extremist group's rise is also bringing with it a renewed skepticism about American allies in the region.

Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...slamic-states/

[davidbfpo]

Two very different viewpoints on Saudi Arabia today, after the death of the King (in de facto power since 1995). One from The Soufan Group:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrie...ath-of-a-king/ and the second from The Guardian:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-saudi-arabia?

[davidbfpo]

From Newsweek:

Dozens of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have infiltrated (Rafha) a Saudi Arabian border town via Iraq before melting away into the general population, according to claims by the terror group’s supporters on social media.

Link:http://www.newsweek.com/isis-attack-...te-town-302652

Wiki shows Rafha as having 80k inhabitants in 2010 and it is located close to the border. You may have to alter the scale to see the location:http://www.maplandia.com/saudi-arabi...rontier/rafha/

[davidbfpo]

A rather breathless CNN reporter is on the Saudi-Yemen border with the Saudi border police. He gives some stats, 42k illegal perons detained in six months, including children smuggling Qat across - leaving unexplained who for - and in three months 500k tonnes of Qat seized.
Link:http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/201...men-border.cnn