Saudi Coalition Designed to Counter Iran, Not Terrorists

Saudi Arabia is attempting to create an Islamic military coalition under the guise of fighting terrorism to counter archenemy Iran’s burgeoning relationship with the United States, experts told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia unveiled a 34-nation Islamic coalition aimed at combating terrorism, although it excludes Syria and Iraq, the two countries most severely affected by the advances of the Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic).

"This isn’t for real, this is not a functioning military alliance," University of Ottawa Countering Violent Extremism Specialist Kamran Bokhari told Sputnik. "This is an attempt by the Saudis to create a structure for their own national security interests."

The United States negotiating with Saudi Arabia’s biggest enemy, Iran, on a nuclear agreement has forced the Saudis to "fend for themselves" after decades of relying on Washington to protect their security interests.

Institute for Gulf Affairs Policy Analyst Adam Whitcomb told Sputnik that the alliance was formed by Saudi Arabia partially to display power in the face of improving relations between Iran and the United States.

The Saudis’ supposed military bloc is bound to be ineffective and redundant, Whitcomb suggested, considering many of the countries named are already part of the US-led coalition against Daesh.

"In addition, many of the countries listed have little to no military capability to combat Daesh, even listing the Palestinians," Whitcomb explained. "Saudi Arabia even calls on Yemen to join, the very country that they have been bombing relentlessly for the past nine months."

Geopolitical analyst and StopImperialism.org editor Eric Draitser told Sputnik that Saudi Arabia building a military alliance because the United States cannot be trusted in light of the Iran deal is a much more plausible explanation than Riyadh actually making an effort to defeat extremists.

"The alliance that the Saudis have cobbled together is really more for show for public relations than it is to actually combat terrorism," Draitser said.

If the Saudis were serious about combating terrorism in Syria and beyond, he added, they would take control of the Wahhabist and financial networks emanating from its territory that fund many of the terror groups that are fighting on the ground in Syria.

The head of Russia’s upper house of parliament’s International Committee, Alexei Pushkov, told reporters on Thursday that the Saudi alliance will have neither political nor military influence on events in Syria.