Saudi Arabia to host anti-ISIL talks

[Al Bhatti]

February 17, 2015

Saudi Arabia to host anti-ISIL talks

Military chiefs from around the world will gather in the Saudi capital on Wednesday to assess the battle against ISIL extremists, diplomatic sources said.

It comes as Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Saudi Arabia’s King Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss about the deteriorating security situation in Yemen and relations with Egypt.

A day earlier, the UAE also sent a high-level delegation, led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, to Riyadh for similar talks.

The two-day meeting of military chiefs is a followup to earlier talks and will gather “all the countries that are involved” in the US-led coalition against ISIL, including Gulf nations, a diplomatic source said.

“I think it’ll be sort of a general appraisal of where we’re at, what needs to be done,” said the source.

Another person said the meeting is “more an exchange of information” and a chance for co-ordination, rather than a forum for major decisions.

The talks among defence chiefs and their deputies coincide with the rise of ISIL in Libya, which has heightened concerns in the region since the group seized parts of Iraq and Syria last year.

Arab states, including the UAE and Jordan, have intensified their bombing of ISIL targets since the militants in early February claimed to have burned alive the Jordanian fighter pilot Maaz Al Kassasbeh, who was captured when his plane went down over Syria last year.

On Monday, Bahrain deployed fighter jets to Jordan in support of the kingdom’s anti-ISIL air campaign.

The same day, the UAE said its Jordanian-based warplanes hit oil refineries run by the militants, while Egypt carried out its first announced military action against ISIL in Libya, after the militants released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Saudi Arabia has since September been participating in the airstrikes against ISIL in Syria.

The Pentagon announced last month that the first of nearly 1,000 US military personnel would soon begin deploying to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, where they will train moderate Syrian rebels to take on ISIL.

Western countries such as Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and the Netherlands have also carried out airstrikes against the militants in Iraq, alongside the United States.

Germany said in December it would send about 100 soldiers to northern Iraq to train Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling the extremists.


Saudi Arabia to host anti-ISIL talks | The National

 

[Syrian Lion]

 

[Ceylal]

They must have walled the conference room with mirrors...

 

[1000]

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/02/20/Riyadh-talks-seek-stronger-Iraqi-army-western-source-.html

Riyadh talks seek stronger Iraqi army: western source

Shiite militias mixed blessing in Iraq, Syria - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

The United States needs to step up its security cooperation with the Baghdad government and “outperform the Iranians” to prevent Iraq from becoming an Iranian satellite, Knights suggested. That will require “a visionary decade-spanning relationship” with the Iraqi government, he said, that will include a larger US military presence


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They realized the alternative of the Safavid Maliki army are even more Safavid militia's

 

[Pulsar]

Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds?

Ask them to first stop their terror funding of fundamentalist Islamic groups all over the world especially the Middle East and South Asia.

 

[Al Bhatti]

February 23, 2015

Al Azhar calls for overhaul of religious education

Campaigns to change mindsets in effort to tackle terrorism find support in region

The head of Al Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious seat of learning, called on Sunday for education reform in Muslim countries in an effort to contain the spread of religious extremism.

Speaking at a counter-terrorism forum in the Saudi holy city of Makkah, Al Azhar grand imam Ahmad Al Tayib linked extremism to “bad interpretations of the Quran and the sunnah”, the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

“There has been a historical accumulation of excessive trends” that have led some people to embrace a misguided form of Islam, he told the gathering.

“The only hope for the Muslim nation to recover unity is to tackle in our schools and universities this tendency to accuse Muslims of being unbelievers,” he said.

“I wish at least one course in our schools and universities paid special attention to correct erroneous and ambiguous concepts about critical issues, such as jihad, takfeer [accusing Muslims of being unbelievers or apostates] and divisions,” Al Tayib said.

Al Tayib’s comments come days after he expressed outrage at Daesh for burning to death a captured Jordanian pilot who took part in US-led air strikes against the militants in Syria.

On February 4, after Daesh released a video showing Muath Al Kassasbeh dying in a cage engulfed in flames, Tayib said the militants deserved to be killed or crucified.

On Sunday in Makkah, home to Islam’s holiest sites, he made no mention of Daesh but denounced “terrorist groups... who have opted for savage and barbaric practices”.

The opening day of the conference also heard a speech from Saudi King Salman who called for “an efficient strategy to combat terrorism”.

“Terrorism is a scourge which is the product of extremist ideology,” the monarch’s speech, read by the governor of Makkah, said.

“It is a threat to our Muslim nation and to the entire world.”

The three-day conference, organised by the Muslim World League group of non-government organisations, is being attended by senior clerics from across the Muslim world to discuss how Islam can combat extremism.

Earlier this year, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi called for what he termed as a “religious revolution” to eliminate age-old extremist ideas, which he said has become a source of “concern for the entire world”.

The call by Al Azhar’s grand imam had positive echoes in Bahrain.

Mohammad Abu Qais, an educator in Bahrain, said that massive campaigns should be launched to help people appreciate the dangers of extremism and fanaticism.

“The campaigns should be in all areas where people meet and communicate, from mosques to schools to stadiums,” he said. “Books should be closely monitored to make sure they include texts that are against any form of extremism or fanaticism, be it directly or through allusions. Mosques must not be used by any group to spread their views. There is a huge difference between teaching and brainwashing although they may be presented in similar ways,” he said.

Bahrainis said that the views announced by Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa last week, were part of the need for new attitudes.

In an opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph, Prince Salman said terrorism was “merely a tool of twisted ideologues... and if we’re meaningfully to address this spiralling global threat, we need to widen our understanding and define our foe, in order to refocus our efforts accordingly.”

“If we start to define ourselves as in a war with theocrats, however, then I believe we can begin the process of delivering the military, political, economic — and maybe even the social — policies to counter this threat together, as we have in the past,” he said.

Terrorist individuals and groups will ebb and flow, but it is the ideology that must be combated and defeated, he said.

Fact Box
Renowned UAE-based lslamic scholar Dr Shaikh Ahmad Al Kubaisi urged a new understanding of Islamic teachings to fight terror.

“The Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] made an impassioned appeal to Muslims to live in peace and harmony with Christians and Jews. How about Muslims... how can we kill each other or charge each other with infidelity”.

Dr Al Kubaisi condemned terrorism and called upon the media, educationists and rulers across Arab and Islamic countries to work together to emphasise Islam’s greater tolerance.

Mohammad Jaber, Bahraini analyst:

“The real problem is the minds of people and their tendency to accuse others whenever they do not agree with them, and if they are not addressed properly, then there is no lasting solution... We need to change mindsets and make people see the situation from different angles, not only theirs. Islam is against uniformity and encourages pluralism. However, the negative accumulation of misconceptions has resulted in damaging approaches and self-serving attitudes that have gained a dangerous dimension with the open, unashamed use of excessive force and brutal ways to impress and depress...

“People tend to resist change, especially when it is related to concepts that have been given a significant, almost religious dimension. Telling people that their views on some religious issues were misinterpretations that should be corrected is not likely to go far. For some people, it has been deeply instilled in them. We need to focus more on the younger minds and hearts so that they can develop a more positive and realistic concept closely associated with the genuine values of Islam,”

Ahmad Hejazi, professor political sociology at Cairo University:

“Reform of religious discourse primarily requires revision of the education system and syllabi to ensure they cope with modern life. This requires the spread of moderate religious culture so that students will be raised and educated on the basis of tolerance and the acceptance of the other, in this regard, it is important to review religious texts and ensure they are not misinterpreted to incite violence.”

Ahmad Karima, an Islamic Sharia professor at Al Azhar University:

“The call to reform education comes at the right time. And the beginning should be with revising the textbooks taught at Al Azhar itself. Some of them include very dangerous information and views that were made in the past under certain circumstances. They are related to jihad, distribution of war spoils and captured women, and incitement to hate of the Book people (Jews and Christians).”

Mohammad Ezz Al Arab, an expert at the state-run Al Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies:

“Tackling religious discourse should be pursued at two levels. The first should focus on the people responsible for interpretation of religious texts. The second is pertaining to the religious content itself.”

Al Azhar calls for overhaul of religious education | GulfNews.com

 

[Al Bhatti]

February 25, 2015

Jordanian King Abdullah with King Salman of Saudi Arabia on his arrival ceremony in Riyadh on Wednesday.

King Abdullah in Riyadh to discuss Daesh
Two kings are set to discuss a number of regional and international issues

Jordan’s King Abdullah II arrived Wednesday to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with newly enthroned King Salman, with their talks focusing on the fight against terrorism as the two countries take part in US-led airstrikes targeting Daesh.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that Salman greeted the Jordanian monarch at the airport. The agency said the two kings are set to discuss a number of regional and international issues.

A Saudi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said the meeting would focus on efforts to fight Daesh, the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and turmoil in Yemen.

Earlier this month, Daesh extremists burned a captive Jordanian pilot to death, a killing that Salman condemned as an “odious crime” and which Jordan vowed to avenge.

On the sidelines of King Abdullah’s visit, the head of the world’s largest Islamic body met with Jordan’s Islamic Affairs minister in Saudi Arabia to discuss Muslim support for Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque. Eyad Madani, the secretary-general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, paid a rare visit in January to the hilltop compound housing the Al Aqsa mosque, where tensions have flared surrounding the holy site.

Since Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, Jewish worshippers have been allowed to visit - but not pray - at the site. The area is run by Muslim authorities under Jordanian custody. Jordan’s Hashemite rulers was at one point also custodians of Islamic holy sites in Makkah and Madinah, which are now under Saudi control.

Earlier this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Salman in Riyadh. During that visit, Salman stressed Saudi support for a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

King Abdullah in Riyadh to discuss Daesh | GulfNews.com