Arab Analysts' Views on the Bomb Blasts in Saudi Arabia

Abdul Raheem Ali of Islam-on-Line canvassed views from Arab scholars on the meaning of it all in the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Saad al-Faqih, head of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), in a phone interview said the attacks were likely to have been carried out by Al-Qaeda.

“Al-Qaeda network, which declared a world-wide war on the United States in 1998, does not distinguish between military people and civilians.

The American troops which were reportedly to leave Saudi Arabia only represent a small portion of the American forces deployed before the invasion of Iraq. But there are still ten thousand American military experts as well as 30,000 American civilians, including military technicians and security experts would remain in the kingdom.

A number of basic change factors have contributed to supporting the trend of jihadists in the kingdom in the Riyadh bombings. Firstly, an anti-American popular momentum that was further fanned by the Saudi cooperation with the Americans.

Secondly,the emerging of a new group of young Saudi scholars who back the jihad tendencies against the United States and the Saudi regime through their fatwas. Such as Sheikh Ali el-Khodeir, Naser el-Fahd and Ahmed el-Khaldi who last week issued a statement calling on the Saudi people not to cooperate with the state security authorities in hunting down the 19 “terrorists” suspected of links with Al-Qaeda. The three scholars reportedly referred to the suspects as “mujahideen” and exhorted the Saudi people not to sell them to the security authorities.

And the third factor is the aggravation of the economic and social crisis in the kingdom, which sent unemployment, crime, bribery, corruption and poverty rates sky-high.

All these changes prompted large sections of the Saudi people to support the “Islamic jihadist" trend.

Al-Qaeda does not adopt reaction techniques in their operations. The timing of the operation has nothing to do with the war on Iraq, (U.S. Secretary of State Colin) Powell’s visit to Riyadh or the American presence bur rather has to do with Al-Qaeda’s anti-American policies and plans for confrontations with the United States everywhere.

Al-Qaeda had to lay low for a while after a word-wide war was ignited against it."

Yasser el-Serri, director of the London-based Islamic Observatory, said in a phone interview the Riyadh bombing attacks were triggered by the Saudi security authorities’ crackdown on the jihadist groups in Saudi Arabia .

“ There were attempts by the Saudi authorities to tighten the grip on the jihadist groups in Saudi Arabia. The publication of their names and the clampdowns on them pushed these jihadist groups to accelerate the carrying out of a wide-scale operation to ease the heat .

Abdel Aziz el-Khamis, a Saudi opposition figure and director of the Saudi Center for Human rights, said that “jihadist group wanted to convey a message to its supporters to force American military to leave the kingdom.”

Mohammad el-Mas’ri, a Britain-based Saudi asylum said the explosions signal the beginning of a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and militant groups and anticipated the Riyadh bombings as “just the beginning of major operations” in the making.

Jihad Awad, a political science professor and researcher in Islamic military groups affairs said what happened in Saudi Arabia was expected in any minute.

“The explosions signal the beginning of a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and groups that believe in the use of violence.

All Arab countries, particularly Egypt , Algeria , Yemen and the United Arab Emirates , witnessed decisive battles with violence groups. Only the Saudi regime tried to postpone the beginning of the confrontation until declaring it with the Riyadh bombings.

But this battle will be won by the Saudi regime as was the case in Egypt and Yemen in light of the favorable atmosphere and the immense assistance that could be provided by the U.S. as being the most affected by the bombings after the kingdom"

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