A strong alliance to defeat terrorism

THIS week the Kingdom found itself at the head of a 34-nation alliance dedicated to stamping out terrorism. It is hard to overstate the importance of this development. The military coalition announced this week brings together almost every country in the Islamic World.
It has become necessary because the Hydra-headed menace of fanatical violence had struck at virtually every member of the new coalition. This horror can no longer be fought piecemeal. Many individual Muslim countries have made headway against the threat. But so much more will be achieved now that they have banded together.
Saudi Arabia enjoys widespread respect for its ability to combine tireless quiet diplomacy with a willingness to take decisive action. Operation Decisive Storm, the Saudi-led multinational intervention to save Yemen, is an outstanding example of this no-nonsense response. As the Muslim world’s natural leader, it is understandable that members of the new anti-terror alliance have chosen to headquarter it in Riyadh.
The Kingdom’s capital is to be the nerve-center of an intelligence and military initiative that the terrorists around the world would do well to fear.
The work in creating an effective military coalition is considerable. The efficient coordination of intelligence on terrorists lies at the heart of the operation. The combination of assets for airstrikes will require accurate mission data and targeting information. But achieving cohesion among deployed anti-terror ground forces may be less of a challenge than might be expected. At this stage of the campaign, the major role is likely to be played by special forces. Ruthless, clinical strikes against key terrorist positions will crush their morale, take out key personnel and destroy ordinance. In their suddenness and unexpectedness these raids by elite troops will bring terror to the terrorists.
Though security will be tight around operational planning, it will do no harm to keep the terrorists guessing nervously where they will be hit next. Unlike the stable societies that they attack, the peddlers of terror are intrinsically unstable. They are united only in their brutality, in their savagery. When they are met with unflinching opposition, they weaken. This has been demonstrated in Yemen. The awesome force of the Saudi-led Gulf military intervention is driving back the terrorists.
The new alliance is a massive act of self-defense. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made this clear when he announced its formation this week. As such it will operate within the anti-terror mandates of both the UN and the OIC.
The deputy crown prince urged the United States and other western powers to cooperate with the Islamic alliance. And it is hard to see how these states can do otherwise. All have committed themselves to the destruction of terror. All are intent on seeing it rooted out.
The particular strength of the new coalition is that it is Islamic. Muslims have suffered the greatest from terror. Yet the terrorists use past western mistakes to pretend that they are fighting against a foreign enemy. They are not. They are assaulting the Ummah — the entire Muslim community. The forces best equipped to deal with them are the forces of Islam. All right-thinking Muslims recognize the justice of this. The new Saudi-led military coalition is being welcomed by the international community.
The coalition of states that have pledged to fight together to extirpate the terror menace speaks for itself. The countries that are being led by the Kingdom are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Chad, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE and Yemen. Ten more, including Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, are expected to join soon.
The coalition, working with western powers and with the United Nations, constitutes a formidable array of force. And because it is the legitimate representative of the Ummah, it has even greater strength. The fanatics of Daesh and other terror groups wickedly claim to be acting in the name of Islam. They are not. Their savage violence is unIslamic. The most powerful enemy that they can encounter is an Islamic world determined to counter their lies.
But this is not a fight that can be won overnight. Daesh and Al-Qaeda and their imitators will be destroyed bit by bit. This is a campaign that will take time and great effort. But the essential outcome is a Muslim world cleansed of fanaticism and terror and restored to peace and stability.