SATSQ, Saudi anti-terror coalition edition

Brookings’ Bruce Reidel asks an important question:

Are the Saudis finally getting serious about the anti-ISIS fight?

Obviously it’s still early, but so far? No:

At least two nations said they were taken by surprise by the Saudi announcement that they were part of a 34 nation coalition. Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said he had to contact the embassy in Saudi Arabia to learn more about their participation in the coalition, while the Lebanese foreign minister claimed his country was not a member. The Lebanese prime minister later clarified that they would be apart of the Saudi-led alliance, though the foreign ministry (currently ran by a pro-Iran/Syria minister and clashes with the pro-Saudi PM) says they weren’t consulted.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that this move undermines Lebanon’s distinguished stance on the definition of terrorism and the classification of terrorist organizations,” a statement from the ministry said.

The Pakistanis, meanwhile, are still waiting for clarification. Pakistan rejected Saudi attempts to include it in the coalition fighting against the Houthis in Yemen earlier this year. The country has remain steadfast in its opposition to getting involved in Middle Eastern conflicts.

There are lots of potential problems with the Saudi anti-terror alliance, but even I, as cynical as I can be, didn’t imagine that one of them would be “the Saudis decided to include countries in the alliance without asking them beforehand.” Is there any way to look at this that doesn’t lead to the conclusion that the Saudis just slapped this whole thing together to make a big splash?

Undoubtedly, the Saudis figure that Lebanon and Pakistan owe them, since Riyadh has doled out a considerable amount of money to both of those countries over the years. But apparently all that money still wasn’t enough to buy the Saudis an unconditional “yes” from either country. I wonder if any of the other countries that are supposedly in this alliance were also surprised to find out that they’d signed on.

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