BLACKEAGLE
SENIOR MEMBER
Saudi Arabia is our natural ally against Isil
Just like David Cameron, Riyadh is committed both to destroying Islamic State and to toppling Assad. It would be foolish to alienate them now
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are greeted by Prince Bandar Bin Sultan at Riyadh Photo: Reuters
By Con Coughlin
8:43PM GMT 08 Dec 2015
When David Cameron tried to find out just how many Syrian fighters were available to conduct ground operations against Islamic State (Isil), the response from his senior military advisors was hardly encouraging.
“There is certainly no shortage of fighters on the ground in Syria,” the Prime Minister’s office was told. “The only problem is that none of them wants to fight against Isil.”
That, in a nutshell, sums up the predicament facing Western policymakers as they attempt to devise a coherent strategy for defeating Isil – one that does not rely exclusively on the somewhat optimistic belief that if you drop enough bombs on the fanatics, they will simply give up on their attempts to establish their self-styled caliphate.
Downing Street has now distanced itself from Mr Cameron’s initial claim that there were up to 70,000 Syrian rebels prepared to join the fight against Isil – a figure, I am told, that was inserted at the last minute into Mr Cameron’s Commons speech by an over-enthusiastic Cabinet Office official who was not inclined to heed the official military guidance.
The reality, of course, is that with more than 100 different factions all fighting for their share of the spoils in Syria’s brutal civil war, it is almost impossible to distinguish the groups that are fighting against Isil from those pursuing other agendas, such as trying to overthrow the Assad regime or those wanting to establish an independent fiefdom of their own.
In some cases, factions find themselves fighting on two fronts. Groups that were formed four years ago specifically to target President Bashar al-Assad are now being forced to defend their territorial gains against Isil, which makes no distinction between groups fighting either for or against the Assad regime.
So far as Isil’s ideologues are concerned, anyone who does not subscribe fully to their twisted interpretation of Islam is deemed a heretic.
So, if any meaningful progress is to be made in the ground war against Isil, then there must be some degree of rationalisation on the battlefield that clarifies exactly who is fighting whom, and to what end.
In that context, the opening yesterday of a summit of Syrian opposition groups in Saudi Arabia represents a long overdue attempt to forge some unity of purpose, one that might ultimately lay the foundations for Isil’s demise.
The Saudis have not exactly enjoyed a good press in recent weeks, not least because of the antics of hard Left activists from the Stop the War Coalition and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, who would have us believe Saudi Arabia is single-handedly responsible for the creation of both al-Qaeda and Isil.
Admittedly, funds from some Saudi individuals have, in the past, helped to fund both these organisations. But the Saudi government itself is at war with both groups, with Isil terrorists recently carrying out a series of attacks against mosques in the Sunni homeland.
The Saudis, therefore, are as committed to defeating Isil as they are to the removal of the Assad regime, their long-standing regional rivals which, as it happens, is not all that different from the aims espoused by Mr Cameron when setting out Britain’s long-term objectives for its military intervention in Syria.
In such circumstances it would make perfect sense for Britain to work closely with the Saudis to make common cause, particularly as the two countries have a close alliance dating back to well before the first Gulf war.
And yet, at a time when Mr Cameron needs all the allies he can muster to guarantee Britain’s involvement in Syria is a success, relations between London and Riyadh have become strained, not least because of Justice Secretary Michael Gove’s ill-advised decision in October to cancel a prisons contract in protest at the Saudis’ human rights record, a move that caused much unhappiness in Riyadh.
What Mr Gove failed to appreciate is that his intervention came at a critical juncture in the kingdom’s political development.
Next weekend, this deeply conservative country will allow women to stand for the first time in municipal elections. Reforms of this nature, while painfully slow, are nevertheless a step in the right direction, and should enjoy our encouragement, rather than being spurned, which is how the Saudis interpreted Mr Gove’s intervention.
Moreover, at a time when Britain is in the process of restructuring its Armed Forces, it makes sense to strengthen its alliance with long-standing partners like Riyadh.
The Saudis are strengthening their own military, and have expressed an interest in adding to the fleet of 72 British Typhoons they bought in 2007. But the deal is unlikely to proceed if doubts persist in Riyadh about the strength of Britain’s commitment to maintaining strong ties.
The Saudis can be difficult allies, as demonstrated by the recent row over a 74-year-old British bootlegger who was sentenced to 350 lashes.
But when it comes to the big regional issues, the Saudis have proved themselves to be a good friend of Britain, one that could play a vital role in destroying Isil.
Saudi Arabia is our natural ally against Isil - Telegraph
Just like David Cameron, Riyadh is committed both to destroying Islamic State and to toppling Assad. It would be foolish to alienate them now
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are greeted by Prince Bandar Bin Sultan at Riyadh Photo: Reuters
By Con Coughlin
8:43PM GMT 08 Dec 2015
When David Cameron tried to find out just how many Syrian fighters were available to conduct ground operations against Islamic State (Isil), the response from his senior military advisors was hardly encouraging.
“There is certainly no shortage of fighters on the ground in Syria,” the Prime Minister’s office was told. “The only problem is that none of them wants to fight against Isil.”
That, in a nutshell, sums up the predicament facing Western policymakers as they attempt to devise a coherent strategy for defeating Isil – one that does not rely exclusively on the somewhat optimistic belief that if you drop enough bombs on the fanatics, they will simply give up on their attempts to establish their self-styled caliphate.
Downing Street has now distanced itself from Mr Cameron’s initial claim that there were up to 70,000 Syrian rebels prepared to join the fight against Isil – a figure, I am told, that was inserted at the last minute into Mr Cameron’s Commons speech by an over-enthusiastic Cabinet Office official who was not inclined to heed the official military guidance.
The reality, of course, is that with more than 100 different factions all fighting for their share of the spoils in Syria’s brutal civil war, it is almost impossible to distinguish the groups that are fighting against Isil from those pursuing other agendas, such as trying to overthrow the Assad regime or those wanting to establish an independent fiefdom of their own.
In some cases, factions find themselves fighting on two fronts. Groups that were formed four years ago specifically to target President Bashar al-Assad are now being forced to defend their territorial gains against Isil, which makes no distinction between groups fighting either for or against the Assad regime.
So far as Isil’s ideologues are concerned, anyone who does not subscribe fully to their twisted interpretation of Islam is deemed a heretic.
So, if any meaningful progress is to be made in the ground war against Isil, then there must be some degree of rationalisation on the battlefield that clarifies exactly who is fighting whom, and to what end.
In that context, the opening yesterday of a summit of Syrian opposition groups in Saudi Arabia represents a long overdue attempt to forge some unity of purpose, one that might ultimately lay the foundations for Isil’s demise.
The Saudis have not exactly enjoyed a good press in recent weeks, not least because of the antics of hard Left activists from the Stop the War Coalition and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, who would have us believe Saudi Arabia is single-handedly responsible for the creation of both al-Qaeda and Isil.
Admittedly, funds from some Saudi individuals have, in the past, helped to fund both these organisations. But the Saudi government itself is at war with both groups, with Isil terrorists recently carrying out a series of attacks against mosques in the Sunni homeland.
The Saudis, therefore, are as committed to defeating Isil as they are to the removal of the Assad regime, their long-standing regional rivals which, as it happens, is not all that different from the aims espoused by Mr Cameron when setting out Britain’s long-term objectives for its military intervention in Syria.
In such circumstances it would make perfect sense for Britain to work closely with the Saudis to make common cause, particularly as the two countries have a close alliance dating back to well before the first Gulf war.
And yet, at a time when Mr Cameron needs all the allies he can muster to guarantee Britain’s involvement in Syria is a success, relations between London and Riyadh have become strained, not least because of Justice Secretary Michael Gove’s ill-advised decision in October to cancel a prisons contract in protest at the Saudis’ human rights record, a move that caused much unhappiness in Riyadh.
What Mr Gove failed to appreciate is that his intervention came at a critical juncture in the kingdom’s political development.
Next weekend, this deeply conservative country will allow women to stand for the first time in municipal elections. Reforms of this nature, while painfully slow, are nevertheless a step in the right direction, and should enjoy our encouragement, rather than being spurned, which is how the Saudis interpreted Mr Gove’s intervention.
Moreover, at a time when Britain is in the process of restructuring its Armed Forces, it makes sense to strengthen its alliance with long-standing partners like Riyadh.
The Saudis are strengthening their own military, and have expressed an interest in adding to the fleet of 72 British Typhoons they bought in 2007. But the deal is unlikely to proceed if doubts persist in Riyadh about the strength of Britain’s commitment to maintaining strong ties.
The Saudis can be difficult allies, as demonstrated by the recent row over a 74-year-old British bootlegger who was sentenced to 350 lashes.
But when it comes to the big regional issues, the Saudis have proved themselves to be a good friend of Britain, one that could play a vital role in destroying Isil.
Saudi Arabia is our natural ally against Isil - Telegraph