Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
A review to what has happened recently in Saudi Arabia, especially in towns bordering Bahrain and Qatar in the Gulf sea and ongoing developments in the region show the urgent need for focusing on important aspects of the fight against terrorism.
In fact, suicide bombings are a complicated matter and finding their root causes may lead to looking at accumulated political, economic, social, religious and doctrine bases which laid foundation for the culture of death, suicide and murder.
IS which is proudly talking about its crimes in the Arabian peninsula has created within the past four years bases for planning, and has been training its elements in various types of fighting and operations, including terrorising innocent people in neighbourhoods and places of worship.
IS is using its strong base in Syria from where it expanded to Iraq and began to threaten other countries. Its achievements are scaring and sad as it carried out two terrorist operations in Saudi for the first time.
Its branch in Libya controls the oil city of Sirte, has seized Al Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in Iraq and is advancing in Syria, overrunning more towns and villages.
Risks are not limited to IS. There are sectarian militias in Iraq and Syria, who are savage hands of the Malalais regime in Tahran led by their military commanders and who are practising same things as those of IS.
We must admit that there are supporters of IS in Gulf, Arab and Islamic societies. Some are adopting and disseminating its ideology in the absence of serious actions from any of the governments in the region to eradicate these practices.
Instead, there has been wilful ignorance that encouraged them to intensify their activities and reveal themselves. But the fact is the group’s ideology does not recognise any other — whether religion or sect — and can’t co-exist with others and, therefore, keeps targeting them.
That is why fighting terrorism needs security actions along with cultural and ideological battles at home, schools, mosques, in societies and institutions and at state level.
We need to immune societies from this takfiri (accusing others of being apostate) thought and it is the only way to defeat terrorism and dry its resources.
The Peninsula
