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Thread: Saudi Arabia: seeking security (catch all)

  1. #121
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Attacking the city of the Prophet (ﷺ) is a clear violation - only the khawārij, and false prophets have attacked #Medina
    Would suggest that SWJ readers go back and Google the Islamic term Khawarij as it caught my attention when it was posted....this poster truly knows Islam....and I find it interesting he uses a term found deeply buried in the history of Islam... since the term can be used in a number of ways to signify say Shia...or Takfiri......but the poster left it to the reader to pick which one....

  2. #122
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Historical note on KSA-Pakistani links

    I have seen references to the historical and this thread often has posts on the sometimes supportive role Pakistan plays now in Saudi security. So thanks to a "lurker":
    In the aftermath of the 1979 takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by extremists, Saudi Arabia was looking for foreign troops from a Muslim country to address its internal security dilemma.
    On return, the delegation recommended to General Zia ul Haq that Pakistan should only send advisors and trainers, but no combat troops should be sent to Saudi Arabia as this will complicate Pakistan’s relations with Saudi Arabia’s neighbors. Zia overruled and agreed to deployment of a large Pakistani contingent.
    Saudi Arabia was looking at this contingent from mainly internal security point of view and they wanted operational and administrative control of the contingent. Kallue was of the view that a Pakistani officer should be the overall commander of the Pakistani force and on this issue he did not go to Riyadh. In 1982, a formal agreement was signed and Saudi Pakistan Armed Forces Organization (SPAFO) headquarters was established at Riyadh. Pakistani troops were stationed at different locations in the kingdom and numbered about 17,000.
    An enlarged armoured brigade consisting of three armoured regiments, one armoured infantry battalion, one artillery regiment and other supporting elements was stationed at Tabuk. …An anti-air craft regiment as well as an artillery regiment were stationed at Khamis Mushayet while technical and EME elements were stationed at Taif. In addition, trainers from the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy were also stationed in Saudi Arabia.
    Taken from the Pakistani Defence Journal, October 2016
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-25-2016 at 12:48 PM. Reason: 47,252v
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  3. #123
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    Al Arabiya English

    @AlArabiya_Eng
    #BREAKING: Saudi Interior Ministry: ISIS cells in #SaudiArabia have spread to Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Qassim

    SaudiArabia dismantles four #ISIS cells, arrests 18 individuals
    http://ara.tv/buehy
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 02-16-2017 at 02:51 PM. Reason: Moved from Syria thread to the RIGHT one.

  4. #124
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    Default Moderator adds

    There is a separate thread Pakistan and Arab World: Security Cooperation which contributes to KSA security. It is a young thread, with 19 posts and nearly 14k views.
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  5. #125
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    Default Bearing gifts can come with penalties

    So the King has been on a tour of South-East Asia, with promises of investment and trade:
    Taking in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives, the king spent March leading a concerted effort to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s commercial links with Asia’s fast-growing economies.
    The author concludes there can be a downside:
    Investment with the heft the Saudis offer is too tempting to pass up, but King Salman’s visit will only help export his country’s hardline doctrine to places where that could do without it. Both Malaysia and Indonesia urgently need to ease tensions between restive religious communities, but Saudi Arabia aims to open more Islamic schools across South-East Asia, increasing not only literacy in the Arabic language but also Saudi religious teaching and influence. That could be a heavy price tag indeed.
    Link:https://theconversation.com/a-rattled-saudi-arabia-pivots-for-support-to-south-east-asia-74856?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-22-2017 at 09:31 AM. Reason: 65,925v
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  6. #126
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    BREAKING: Saudi Arabia Seeking Nuke Weapons Capability; In Early Stages Of Possible Weapon Research To Counter Iran

    I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with KSA's "secret" funding of Pakistan's A-Bomb.

    Turkey's next, btw.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-01-2017 at 09:47 PM. Reason: Moved here from the Syria thread

  7. #127
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    Default The changing security dynamic in the Red Sea

    This Open Democracy article will be copied to the historical Egypt thread and the current Egypt thread that contains a few posts on the two islands being transferred from Egypt occupation back to Saudi Arabia. That thread is:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...t=18454&page=5

    It is raises some interesting points, notably the KSA-Israeli relationship. I had missed this news, with my emphasis:
    As such, the expected transfer of the islands is revealing a number of regional dynamics. The most vivid example of which is the new perceived strategic role of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is expanding its role in the horn of Africa, especially with the recent conclusion of a deal with Djibouti to build a military base on its territory. The strategic location of the base, across the Yemeni shore, gives Saudi Arabia the ability to project its power over the Bab El Mandab strait. This serves to consolidate the position of Saudi Arabia as the reigning power over the Red Sea.
    Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-a...ic-of-red-sea?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2017 at 11:26 AM. Reason: 67,760v
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  8. #128
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    Saudi Arabia captures, questions three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps on a boat in a critical KSA offshore oil field and the boat was loaded with weapons and explosives....


    http://read.bi/2siIQ6k

    Added by Moderator: Iran denies it was an IRGC boat:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/w...ian-gulf.html?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-20-2017 at 08:55 AM. Reason: Moved from another thread and 2nd link added

  9. #129
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    Default Royal Rumble – Dynamics of Saudi Royal Family

    Hamid Hussain has sent a commentary on the struggles with the Saudi Royal Family and their usually quiet competitors for influence. It is seven pages and is on the attachment.

    It starts with:
    In the last two years, Saudi Arabia has gone through many changes. Absolute monarchies are not easy to decipher. There are many opacities and it is very difficult for any outside observer to have a real sense of events. Two main factors are very limited expression by Saudis in their own country and opaque decision making process in the form of decrees with flavor of palace intrigue. A Saudi will not express his honest view in the presence of another Saudi due to fear factor. In view of these limitations, the perspective of an outsider has severe limitations.

    Current system of governance of the country is based on accession to throne of one of the sons of the founder of the country Abdul Aziz bin Abdur Rahman al-Saud (d. 1953). He works with other family members especially senior princes, Council of Ministers (most of whom are also royal family members) and Council of Senior Clerics in running day to day affairs of the country. There is a fair amount of competition among all these groups about various issues and King carefully balances his act to avoid open conflict.
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-31-2017 at 12:10 PM. Reason: 82,370v
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  10. #130
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    Default A twon under siege, not in Syria, in KSA

    I am aware that the minority Shia population, mainly in the Eastern Province, are not the happiest Saudi citizens; with occasional rioting and more.

    So I was surprised to read that one town has been under siege for two months:
    ....the Saudi government had just begun a war on a town in the country’s restive east – a battle that is still raging despite receiving very little media coverage both within the conservative Kingdom and outside it. Traditionally Shia, Awamiyah – a 400-year-old district in the eastern Qatif province home to around 30,000 people – has been surrounded by siege barricades put up by the security services since attempts to evict residents turned violent on 10 May.
    Link:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7877676.html

    This report has a short film of protected diggers demolishing buildings, with armoured vehicles close by and firing machine gun bursts:https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...zbaQSA.twitter
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 08-09-2017 at 09:53 AM. Reason: 83,585v
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  11. #131
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    Default The most volatile period in Saudi history in fifty years

    Following the purge in KSA yesterday Bruce Reidel has a short commentary and he ends with:
    The kingdom is at a crossroads: Its economy has flatlined with low oil prices; the war in Yemen is a quagmire; the blockade of Qatar is a failure; Iranian influence is rampant in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq; and the succession is a question mark. It is the most volatile period in Saudi history in over a half-century.
    Link:https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...nal-guard.html

    The BBC's report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-41874117
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-05-2017 at 08:45 PM. Reason: 92,551v 9k up since last post
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  12. #132
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    Default Mohammad bin Salman: MENA’s main threat to peace?

    A lengthy profile of MBS, the Crown Prince which is not complimentary and at the end concludes:
    Bin Salman has two essential goals, which help understand each and every one of his domestic and regional policies including his aggression against Qatar, his alliance-building activity with the UAE and Egypt, his war in Yemen, his efforts to secure western support by talking a little “liberal Islam”, and more: the first goal is to prevent a resumption of the ‘Arab Spring’. Those autocrats have all felt the heat in 2011, they feel a bit better now, but they also know that the ashes of that historic revolution are still burning under the snow and ice of the ‘Arab winter’. The second goal is, as mentioned earlier, regional Saudi supremacism and, if he could, the destruction of the KSA’s arch enemy and rival, Iran. There is nothing this crown prince and future king will not do or push others (Israel, Trump, etc.) to do to accomplish those two goals. If this dangerous character has his ways, it will mean the end of hope for Arab democracy, and wars without end throughout the whole region.
    Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-...at-not-reform?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-17-2018 at 11:08 AM. Reason: 97,407v
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  13. #133
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    Default What’s behind the sudden ouster of top Saudi military commanders?

    A short Brookings article by Bruce Reidel and as a taster:
    The only clear winner is Iran. The top American general in the region said this week that Iran has accomplished more in Yemen in the last five years than it did in building up Hezbollah in Lebanon in 20 years. When the war began in Yemen, Iran had limited connections to the Houthis, it urged caution on the rebels but was ignored. Now it has a robust relationship. Iran has every reason to perpetuate a conflict that costs its rival Saudi Arabia some $5 billion per month and costs Iran a pittance.
    Link:https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order...ry-commanders/
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-04-2018 at 06:37 PM. Reason: 100,872v
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  14. #134
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    PARIS: Saudi Arabia has threatened military action against Qatar if it goes ahead and acquires Russia's top of the range S-400 air defence missile system, Le Monde daily reported. Citing information it had obtained, Le Monde said Friday that Riyadh had written to French President Emmanuel Macron asking him to intervene to prevent the deal going ahead and to help preserve regional stability.
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/64427860.cms
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  15. #135
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    A year-long political conflict between the tiny, wealthy state of Qatar and its larger neighbours - including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - has been fought with a new arsenal of weapons: bots, fake news and hacking.

    In the early hours of 24 May 2017, a news story appeared on the website of Qatar's official news agency, QNA, reporting that the country's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, had made an astonishing speech.

    The quotes then appeared on the QNA's social media accounts and on the news ticker running along the bottom of the screen on videos uploaded to the agency's YouTube channel.

    The emir was quoted praising Islamist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. And perhaps most controversially of all, Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch-rival.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44294826
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
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  16. #136
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    Default Saudi-assisted film of jihadi home movies

    Noticed this film is on release in the UK & USA and their website describes the film as:
    PATH OF BLOOD depicts Islamist terrorism, as it has never been seen before. Drawn from a hoard of jihadi home-movie footage that was captured by Saudi security services, this is the story of Muslim terrorists targeting Muslim civilians and brought to justice by Muslim security agents. It is a stark reminder that all who are touched by terrorism are victimized by it. A powerful and sometimes shocking cinematic experience, PATH OF BLOOD reveals how brainwashed youths, fuelled by idealism and the misguided pursuit of adventure, can descend into madness and carnage. The raw, unvarnished footage, to which the filmmakers negotiated exclusive access, captures young thrill-seekers at a jihadi “boot camp” deep in the Saudi desert, having signed on to overthrow the Saudi government. They plot to detonate car bombs in downtown Riyadh, become embroiled in a game of cat and-mouse with government forces and, as their plans unravel, resort to ever more brutal tactics. Adopting a strictly objective approach, the film doesn’t editorialize and contains no interviews or “talking heads” commentary. The home video footage was shot by the terrorists themselves, allowing viewers to see them in all their complexity, while compelling audiences to draw their own conclusions.
    Their website refers to a book:
    It is co-authored by PATH OF BLOOD co-producer Thomas Small and director/producer Jonathan Hacker. Building upon the two years of research, the book draws on interviews conducted with members of the Saudi security forces, Western diplomatic and security officials, on- and off-the-record briefings from the Ministry of Interior and captured Al Qaeda terrorists. This access allows the authors to tell in detail the full story of a single Al Qaeda campaign and its defeat by the country’s internal security services. The Literary Review described the book as “A genuine page turner that offers some real insights…a fascinating piece of work... a grimly fascinating read...highly recommended.”
    Link:http://www.pathofbloodfilm.com/

    I have not seen the film, but is was shown this week in London.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-19-2018 at 07:48 PM. Reason: 114,040v
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  17. #137
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    Prominent journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in what the paper's sources are calling "a preplanned murder." The Post said that neither source provided evidence to support this claim. Khashoggi, 59, was reported missing on Tuesday while visiting the consulate for paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. He was living in the U.S. for the past year in self-imposed exile following the ascension of Prince Mohammed
    https://www.foxnews.com/world/washin...der-paper-says
    Jamal Khashoggi was dragged from the consul general's office inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last Tuesday before he was brutally murdered by two men who cut up his body, sources close to the investigation have told Middle East Eye.

    Turkish officials say they know when and where in the building the veteran Saudi journalist was killed and are considering whether to dig up the consul-general's garden to see whether his remains are buried there.

    Khashoggi, 59, has been missing since last Tuesday when he entered the consulate to obtain paperwork so he could remarry, and has not been seen since.

    Saudi officials have strongly denied any involvement in his disappearance and say that he left the consulate soon after arriving. However they have not presented any evidence to corroborate their claim and say that video cameras at the consolate were not recording at the time.
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-1433170798
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  18. #138
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    It took seven minutes for Jamal Khashoggi to die, a Turkish source who has listened in full to an audio recording of the Saudi journalist's last moments told Middle East Eye. Khashoggi was dragged from the Consul General’s office at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and onto the table of his study next door, the Turkish source said. Horrendous screams were then heard by a witness downstairs, the source said.

    "The consul himself was taken out of the room. There was no attempt to interrogate him. They had come to kill him,” the source told MEE.

    The screaming stopped when Khashoggi - who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate on 2 October - was injected with an as yet unknown substance.

    Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy, who has been identified as the head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department, was one of the 15-member squad who arrived in Ankara earlier that day on a private jet. Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up on a table in the study while he was still alive, the Turkish source said. The killing took seven minutes, the source said.

    As he started to dismember the body, Tubaigy put on earphones and listened to music. He advised other members of the squad to do the same. “When I do this job, I listen to music. You should do [that] too,” Tubaigy was recorded as saying, the source told MEE.

    A three-minute version of the audio tape has been given to Turkish newspaper Sabah, but they have yet to release it.
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/e...oggi-829291552
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
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    Two thousand pounds of education
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  19. #139
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    Default One man dies a furore follows, meantime most ignore the Yemen

    The current media and political furore over the suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi diplomatic premises has taken on many dimensions, whilst ignoring many others. Notably the famine and deaths in the Yemen. Plus the actions of the Turkish government towards their own journalists.

    Might the murder actually have an impact on the Saudis and their waging war in the Yemen?
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  20. #140
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    Default Will outsiders to the region now understand what governance means in MENA?

    A profound comment by Rami Khouri via Twitter:
    An important element of this episode is that normal, ordinary people around the world now understand how normal, ordinary Arabs have felt during the past 5 decades of authoritarian governments that treat their citizens like idiots or sheep, almost always with foreign support.
    His short bio:
    Senior Fellow & journalism professor, American Univ. of Beirut;syndicated columnist; nonresident senior fellow, Harvard Kennedy School.
    Needless to say the KSA explanation appears to be flawed and has been changed yet again.
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