Saudis and ISIS Versus Each Other and Shi’ites
The Washington Post reminded readers that the brutal Islamic State movement and Saudi Arabia’s U.S-supported monarchy “espouse similar conservative views of Sunni Islam” (“Suicide blast hits Saudi mosque; Islamic State claims attack near Yemeni border, threatens more,” Aug. 7, 2015). A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State on August 6 in Asir, Saudi Arabia reportedly killed more than a dozen people.
The dead included at least 10 Saudi security personal and three workers. The bomber struck a Sunni mosque near the border with Yemen in an apparent attempt both to hurt the Saudi monarchy, which opposes the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS or the Islamic State), and generate more tension along the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. While Saudi Arabia’s influential Wahhabi clerics as well as ISIS deem “Shiites as apostates… Saudi officials permit Shiite worship and rites.”
Although both the Saudi government and the Islamic State adhere to puritanical schools of Sunni Islam, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for numerous recent suicide bombings in the kingdom, The Post reported.
In Yemen, the Saudis are leading a military intervention by several Sunni-dominated Arab countries against Houthi rebels believed to be supported by Shiite Iran’s Islamic revolutionary government. “Suicide blast hits Saudi mosque” was a useful reminder that, among other things, in intra-Arab and intra-Muslim conflicts, pro-Western doesn’t necessarily mean moderate.–Rosie Lenoff, Intern
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