Saudi Foreign Minister Says ISIS threat is still present
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that his government respects the international coalition’s efforts against the terrorist organization “ISIS,” but that the group’s threat remains.
“The threat posed by ISIS requires coordination, cooperation, finding a solution to the camps where the organization’s families are located, and prosecuting those involved in terrorist operations,” Bin Farhan said during his speech at the International Alliance against ISIS ministerial meeting in Marrakesh.
He complimented Iraq’s efforts in battling terrorism and engaging with the international coalition to defeat ISIS, urging for “intensification of efforts and work in the framework of facing the organization in Africa, as well as ISIS Khorasan,” due to the regional risks it presents.
He reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s sustained support for the coalition nations in the fight against the organization and terrorism in all regions where it operates.
What is ISIS
Initially, the terrorist organization was known as the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” or ISIS. Members of the group follow the Salafi-jihadi theology, to reestablish the “Islamic Caliphate and execute Sharia.”
ISIS arose from Abu Musab al-al-Qaeda Zarqawi’s subsidiary “Al-Qaeda Jihad in Mesopotamia,” also known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was created in 2004.
Its members and influence are centered in Iraq and Syria, with reports of its presence in southern Yemen, Libya, Sinai, Somalia, northeastern Nigeria, Pakistan, Mozambique, and Niger.
ISIS has become infamous for its films of civilians and troops being beheaded, including journalists and charity workers, as well as the destruction of antiquities and historic sites.
ISIS is accused of human rights breaches and war crimes by the UN. Amnesty International accuses the group of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq on a “historical scale.”
ISIS’s activities and ideas have been extensively condemned by Islamic religious authorities throughout the world, who argue that the group has strayed from the genuine path of Islam and that its actions do not reflect the religion’s fundamental teachings and principles.
The UN, the EU, its member states, the US, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and other nations were among the first to label the group a terrorist organization. More than 60 nations are engaging in military actions against ISIS, either directly or indirectly.
