WORLD

West will be Next ISIS Target, Saudi King Warns

The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that Europe and the U.S could be ISIS’s next targets unless Western government fight terrorism with ‘force, reason and speed’. King Abdullah said
01 Sep 2014 08:39

The king of Saudi Arabia has warned that Europe and the U.S could be ISIS’s next targets unless Western government fight terrorism with ‘force, reason and speed’.

King Abdullah said extremists “know no border” and could begin sweeping through countries outside of the Middle East unless action is taken.

His comments, made at a reception for foreign ambassadors, came as ISIS posted another video on social media showing the beheading of a Lebanese soldier who was captured in Syria.

Although he did not mention any terrorist groups by name, King Abdullah’s comments – published by state media yesterday – appeared to be aimed at drawing Washington and NATO forces into a wider fight against the Islamic State and its supporters in the region.

The group has already seized wide areas of land across Syria and Iraq.

He said: “If we ignore them, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America.

“These terrorists do not know the name of humanity and you have witnessed them severing heads and giving them to children to walk with in the street.”

British officials raised the country’s terror threat level last Friday to ‘severe’, its second-highest level, because of developments in Iraq and Syria.

The White House has said it does not expect the US to bump up its terrorism threat warning level.

He continued: “Terrorism knows no border and its danger could affect several countries outside the Middle East.

“It is no secret to you, what they have done and what they have yet to do. I ask you to transmit this message to your leaders: “Fight terrorism with force, reason and speed”.

The group has been fighting moderate rebels, other extremists and Assad’s forces in Syria for nearly three years.

But, this year, violence in Iraq has spiralled out of control, reaching levels not seen since 2007, when the country was convulsed by civil war.

The jihadist group posted a shocking video which showed the beheading of soldier Ali al-Sayyed, a Sunni Muslim from north Lebanon.

He had been seized alongside 18 others near border town Arsal earlier this month.

The footage – which is too graphic to publish- shows the soldier blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back, writhing and kicking the dusty ground while a militant announces he will be killed. Another militant then beheads him.

The Lebanese army declined to comment but security and Islamic State sources confirmed the latest beheading. Hours later, the group posted a second video showing nine other soldiers begging for their lives, urging their families to take to the streets in the next three days to demand the release of Islamist prisoners as a condition to escape al-Sayyed’s fate.

Earlier this month, several Syrian groups, including Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front battled the Lebanese army after the arrest of rebel commander Emad Gomaa in the border town of Arsal.

Gomaa is an al-Nusra commander who switched affiliation to Islamic State but remained popular among al-Nusra fighters. The militants seized Arsal for five days before withdrawing to a mountainous border region, taking 19 captive soldiers with them.

They have demanded the release of Gomaa and several Islamists jailed since a 2007 insurrection by an al Qaeda-inspired group at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.   Daily Mail

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