US State Department praises Saudi counterterrorism efforts

JEDDAH: The US State Department’s annual report on terrorism for 2016, released on Thursday, praises Saudi counterterrorism efforts.
“Saudi Arabia continued to maintain a strong counterterrorism relationship with the US and supported enhanced bilateral cooperation to ensure the safety of both US and Saudi citizens within Saudi territories and abroad,” the report said.
“Saudi Arabia remained a key member and active participant in the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh, as evidenced by its co-leading the Counter-Daesh Coalition’s Counter-Finance Working Group (CIFG) alongside the US and Italy. The Saudi government condemned Daesh’s activities and participated in coalition military action to defeat the group in Syria and Iraq,” the report added.
“The Saudi Arabian government continued to build and reinforce its capacity to counter terrorism and violent extremist ideologies... Saudi Arabia maintained a high counterterrorism operational tempo, made a number of highly publicized arrests of terrorist suspects, and disrupted active terrorist cells across the Kingdom.”
Saudi Arabia “expanded existing counterterrorism programs and rhetoric to address the phenomenon of returning foreign terrorist fighters; and leveraged terrorist finance provisions of its Law for Crimes of Terrorism and Terrorist Financing (CT Law) and Royal Decree A/44 to counter the funding of violent extremist groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere. The government also launched several new countering violent extremism (CVE) initiatives.”