MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The aim of the Islamic Military Alliance to fight terrorism set up by Saudi Arabia is the resistance to all terrorist organizations operating in the region, a Saudi Defense Ministry aide told Sputnik.
"Its purpose is the centralization and organization of efforts to fight terrorism, their coordination to ensure that they complement each other and bring positive results. The coalition is not directed against any particular state, it resists the terrorist organizations operating in the Islamic world," Ahmed Asiri said in a telephone interview.
Riyadh has been a nominal member of a US-led international coalition that has been launching airstrikes against the Daesh (also known as the Islamic State) jihadists in Syria and Iraq since 2014. However, the operations in Syria have been conducted without the approval of the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.
In mid-December 2015, Saudi Arabia started its own Muslim 34-nation coalition to fight Islamic extremism. The joint operation command center is based in the Saudi capital.
