In an article entitled “Saudi Arabia Forms Muslim Anti-terror Coalition”, written by Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch and carried by The Wall Street Journal, the authors write that:
“Besides the 34 Muslim nations, Riyadh said more than 10 other countries expressed their support for the new bloc. Absent from the list was predominantly Shiite Iran—the kingdom’s main rival for leadership in the Muslim world—as well as Israel and Shiite-led Iraq.”
They then quote Christopher Davidson, professor at Durham University in the U.K. who specializes in Gulf affairs, as remarking that:
“The constituent members of the new coalition mostly fall on the Sunni side of the sectarian fault line and are themselves deeply divided on a number of key policy areas”, and that, “The probability that it can become an effective international security alliance is therefore almost zero.”
Dmitry Polikanov, member of board, PIR-Center think-tank(studio guest); Ali Rizk, independent Middle East expert (based in Beirut); and Dr. Marwan Kabalan, head of policy analysis at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (Doha) joined us to share their views.
