Slammed: Doubters of Saudi war on terror

WASHINGTON/JEDDAH: Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has slammed reports alleging that Saudi Arabia supports extremist groups, saying there was no logic in these arguments because the Kingdom has been targeted by terrorists for several years.
In an article in Newsweek Magazine in the US, he wrote: “Multiple actors — each with their own motives — have targeted the Kingdom, seeking to destabilize the country and terrorize the Saudi people. So it is in our national interest to defeat terrorism — and a national priority.”
He stated: “Whether non-state actors such as Al-Qaeda or Daesh, or state-sponsored terror from Iran and its proxies, Saudi Arabia has, as much as any other country, a national security incentive to stop the men, the money and the mindset that foments terrorism and violent extremism.” The article appeared on Wednesday.
“Some try to malign Saudi Arabia by reciting that “15 of the 19” 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. They should know that the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, told US interrogators that the initial plan was to have 20 hijackers from different nationalities, but late in the planning Osama bin Laden directed him to use as many Saudis as possible to give the attack a Saudi face. If this was Bin Laden’s plan, it almost succeeded, as we saw from the wave of criticism the Kingdom experienced after 9/11,” he said.
Al-Jubeir said that in 2003, Riyadh was targeted with simultaneous suicide bombings at three residential compounds. These bombings killed more than 30 people, including Saudis, Lebanese, Americans, British and Australians.
“Other attacks followed, seeking to destabilize the Kingdom and shake the confidence of expats to cause them to leave. It did not succeed.”
He said that Faris Al-Zahrani, a top Al-Qaeda strategist whose death sentence was recently carried out, along with other convicted terrorists, masterminded a 2004 attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah, killing four security guards and five staff members.
“The murderers of Daesh have publicly proclaimed the taking of the Saudi state as one of their goals,” he said.
Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom was targeted throughout 2015, with Daesh attacking four mosques in Dammam, Qatif, Abha and Najran, killing 38 and wounding 148.
In August 2015, authorities arrested 421 suspects from four different terror cells related to these crimes.
Another 15 suspects were arrested while planning suicide operation against the US Embassy in Riyadh using a truck loaded with explosives, he said.