Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on state news agency SPA.
The statement said that the countries mentioned here have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism and the joint operations center based in Riyadh.
A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, together with Islamic countries Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and Gulf Arab and African states were mentioned.
Shi’ite Muslim Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia’s arch rival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen.
The United States has been increasingly outspoken about its view that Gulf Arab states should do more to aid the military campaign against the Islamic State militant group based in Iraq and Syria.
