August 14, 2015 3 News & Analysis Gulf Abha bomber was known to Saudi authorities

Mohammed Alkhereiji “The United States will continue to support our partners in Mali and as they combat this London terrorist scourge.” Following the release of a pho- he international commu- tograph and an audio recording nity has been unified in of the perpetrator by ISIS affiliate its condemnation of the Al-Hijaz Province, Saudi authori- deadly terrorist attack ties identified the bomber as Saudi on an Abha mosque in citizen Youssef al-Suleiman, 21. Tsouth-western Saudi Arabia. The suicide bombing, which targeted Suleiman had been the Interior Ministry’s special detained for 45 days forces and left 15 people dead and more than 30 injured, is consid- in 2013 ered the deadliest against Saudi security forces since the Islamic In the audio recording Sulei- State (ISIS) made its presence man, identified by his nom de known in the kingdom in 2014. guerre Abu Sinan al-Najdi, warned “It is a heinous crime that is con- that the Saudi government and its trary to values and principles of troops “will not enjoy peace” for Islam and humanity as a whole,” taking part in the US-led coalition Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Secretary­-General Abdul Latif Al The Interior Ministry revealed Zayani said in a statement. that Suleiman had been detained Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan col- for 45 days in 2013 on suspicion of lectively denounced the attack, belonging to an extremist group. expressing solidarity with Saudi According to pan-Arab daily Arabia in combating terrorism. Asharq Al-Awsat, Suleiman was detained in 2013 but was let go due The kingdom’s to a lack of evidence. Interior minister has Other reports indicated that called for more Suleiman came from the north- western town of in Al- Identified bomber Youssef al-Suleiman. vigilance following Jouf and had entered into a reha- the August 6th bilitation programme while jailed attack in . intensify preparedness and raise on the Imam Hussein mosque in Riyadh, claimed responsibility However, he was not on any of the level of caution in the face of a week later that left for the attacks as well as a suicide Commenting on both the Abha the kingdom’s most wanted lists any developments that, God for- four people dead. In November bombing that killed 26 people at a bombing and an attack on a hotel although he is believed to have bid, may arise,” a statement car- 2014, a gunman opened fire at a Shia mosque in Kuwait in June. in Mali, US National Security Coun- joined ISIS in late 2014 after get- ried by the official Saudi news mosque in the eastern Saudi town The kingdom’s security organs cil spokesman Ned Price said: “We ting inspired by websites and so- agency said. “This will not weaken of Al-Ahsa, killing eight. said that they have thwarted other extend our deepest condolences cial media accounts attributed to our resolve in standing up to the Saudi authorities warned ISIS attacks by ISIS, including a sui- to the families of the victims the group. enemies of the nation.” was trying to incite sectarian con- cide bomb plot targeting a mosque and wish for the speedy recov- The kingdom’s Interior minis- In May, a suicide bomber at- flict and have arrested 431 people in eastern Saudi Arabia that can ery of the wounded. We express ter has called for more vigilance tacked a Shia mosque in al-Qadeeh in a major crackdown on ISIS- hold 3,000 worshipers, and at- solidarity with the governments following the August 6th attack. village in province, killing 22 linked cells. An ISIS-affiliated tempts to attack other mosques, whose citizens were among the “Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin people. group calling itself Najd Province, diplomatic missions and security victims. Abdul-Aziz called on the need to This was followed by an attack named after the region around bodies. After Abha mosque attack, what now?

Viewpoint here have been three destructive armies that seek to It is also important not to Moreover, the tug of war attacks on mosques wipe out everything. conduct this battle through Muslim between Egyptian authorities and since May in Saudi Political Islam, encapsulated in violence but by relying on the Muslim Brotherhood has Arabia, two on the Arab world by the Muslim argument, media and voting. The states should driven a wedge of distrust mosques frequented Brotherhood, is definitely going choice of violence has been tried look to enact between Arab public opinion and by Shias and the latest through its severest crisis in since the 1960s but always failed. legislation the Brotherhood in all “Arab Ton a mosque with ties to the decades. Furthermore, it is There is no excuse for not spring” states. police. Could this be the begin- important to take into considera- eradicating the real roots of these forbidding After attacks on Shia mosques, ning of the entrenchment of the tion the fact that different jihadist extremist movements, which lie the creation and now a mosque tied to the Islamic State (ISIS) in the king- ideologies have been birthed from in both the ideologies of political of political authorities, this has solidified Alaya Allani dom? within the Muslim Brotherhood. Islam and jihadist Salafism. parties on consensus regarding the impor- Local newspapers wrote of the Thus, the head of ISIS, Abu Bakr It is important to point out that tance of eradicating the jihadist existence of 1,400 ISIS members al-Baghdadi; the head of al- some Muslim Brotherhood the basis of movement and its extremist in Saudi Arabia. More than 500 Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri; the ideologues regret the group’s rush religion religious offspring factions. With alleged members of the group leaders of Ansar al-Sharia; and the to political power. this popular support, it is going to have been arrested over the past founder of Boko Haram all have The result of their haste is that be easier to launch the next stage six months. ties to the Brotherhood. they laid bare their true inten- in the war against terror. The latest developments in the It is high time for the political, tions, their obvious lack of Supporters of the liberal region include the nuclear intellectual and religious elites in competence in governing and the democratic and nationalist agreement with Iran, Turkey Arab and Muslim countries to take total absence of a modern civic paradigm and the proponents of a changing positions regarding the a stand against this evil ideology and democratic state from their moderate reformist mainstream armed conflict in Syria and and the threat it represents to vision. These figures think things Islam must do more to rise to the Moscow offering to host a security and national interests. were better when they were in the challenge of coming up with a new meeting between the Syrian opposition discourse that lays the founda- opposition and the Assad regime. camp than tions for the modern state, one in The question is whether Saudi when which different racial, sectarian Arabia should rearrange its they and religious elements come priorities and take a new look at were in together equally in a citizenship the war on terror through the lens power. paradigm. of the latest geostrategic develop- Muslim states should look to ments. enact legislation forbidding the Following the mosque creation of political parties on the attacks, Saudi authorities basis of religion. Those seeking emphasised the necessity of religious activism must do this fighting hatred and sectar- through civil associations, not ian strife. This means that politics. They will have to abide by Riyadh realises that it the related regulations, which must safeguard its youth forbid all forms of divisive from joining the ranks of discourse and actions and ISIS and al-Qaeda, ensuring guarantee the safety and respect that they do not join these of all religions. Thus, the state becomes receptacle for all shades of the spectrum, drawing its legitimacy and strength from the The question is whether constitution and the rule of law Saudi Arabia should and national cohesion. rearrange its priorities Alaya Allani is an expert in Islamic extremism. He teaches at and take a new look at the Manouba University in Tunis. During a funeral for bombing victims in Dammam, on June 3, His commentary was translated war on terror 2015, A mourner calls for the enactment of a law considering hate and adapted from the and sectarianism a crime. .