Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, state news agency SPA reported. The alliances comprises countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and African states.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and defence minister Mohammed bin Salman said the campaign would undertake efforts to fight terror in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Reuters reported that the joint operations centre would be based in Riyadh.
The United States has recently put pressure on Arab countries to fight terror, and has also been involved in military strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria. Saudi Arabia and its neighbouring countries have been fighting rebels in Yemen for several months now. Islamic State has also said it would overthrow Gulf kingdoms and launch attacks in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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