WSJ: Saudi Spy Chief Vows to Train, Arm More Terrorists in Protest against US Policy in Syria

World

Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Bandar Bin Sultan Al Saud is extremely dissatisfied with the US and with Barack Obama’s policy over Syria, Iran and Egypt and says that the Saudi Kingdom is going to arm and train more Syrian armed groups in protest against Washington’s policy in the region, according to the Voice of Russia website.

Bandar’s stance was announced this weekend during his meeting with the European diplomats.

The statement follows Saudi Arabia’s surprise decision on Friday to renounce a seat on the United Nations Security Council, the seat that the government was campaigning for a year. In addition, Saudi Arabia blamed the council’s ineffectiveness in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian and Syrian conflicts.

The website, the Wall Street Journal said that Bandar, who is leading the kingdom’s efforts to fund, train and arm terrorists fighting Syrian government, invited a Western diplomat to the Saudi Red Sea city Jeddah to voice Riyadh’s frustration with the Obama administration and its regional policies, including the decision not to bomb Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons in August.

During the meeting, Bandar said that he intended to roll back a partnership with the US in which the Central Intelligence Agency and other nations’ security bodies have covertly helped train Syrian “rebels” to fight the Syrian government, the diplomat told WSJ, citing Prince Bandar.

But the daily notes that all decisions in the kingdom are made by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, and it isn’t known if Bandar’s reported remarks reflected a decision by the monarch.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal to discuss the issue, and the country’s seat in the UN Security Council in particular. According to officials familiar with the meeting, the Saudi minister didn’t share Bandar’s ideas which could mean that there are divisions within the monarchy about how to pressure the US “to play a more hands-on role,” the WSJ reports.

Tension between the US and Saudi Arabia have grown sharply in recent months. Saudi Arabia is dissatisfied with Obama’s decision not to bomb Syria in response to the alleged chemical attack in August and with the renewed relations between the US and Iran’s new president.

H.M

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