S Arabia coalition not sincere in fighting terrorism: Pundit

Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan has criticized the United States for its lack of seriousness in fighting the Daesh terrorist group in the Middle East region. The minister said in an interview with Russia Today on Tuesday that US-led coalition against terrorism does not have any real intention to fight ِDaesh either in Syria or Iraq, because the coalition, which includes Western powers and their regional allies like Saudi Arabia, has raised terrorists and they are interested in keeping the foreign-backed mercenaries in the region.

Muhammad Ali Carter, a journalist and political commentator from London, told Press TV’s Top 5 that Saudi Arabia as one of the main allies of the United States in the so-called war on terror in the Middle East has never been genuine in the fight against terrorist groups who are wreaking havoc in the region.

“Saudi Arabia is openly admitting that they are backing [terrorist] groups in Syria, which the West considers to be terrorist organizations,” Carter said on Wednesday.

He further noted, “They (Saudis) are actually helping the growth of Salafi terrorism in countries like Yemen.”

“The south of Yemen, which they have apparently seized from the Houthis, is full of al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, Daesh claims bombing attacks and this is the areas that Saudi Arabia is claiming that they actually liberated,” the analyst asserted.

He also censured Saudi Arabia for supporting terrorist groups both in the Middle East and other areas, adding that the Riyadh regime caused different problems for the West and it was linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Criticizing the Western powers for ignoring the Al Saud regime’s support for terrorism and keeping the regime as their ally in the fight against terrorism, he stated that Saudi Arabia is the greatest ally of the West.

Elsewhere, he compared two anti-terror coalitions in the Middle East, noting that one of the coalitions has been set up by Saudi Arabia and another by Iran, but the Iranian coalition is “more realistic and more genuine.”

The Islamic Republic has worked with Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, and the coalition has “gained legitimate gains against the real enemy which is Daesh and groups linked to al-Qaeda like the Nusra Front,” he added.

The Western powers and their regional allies claim that they are fighting terrorism in Syria and Iraq but reports from different media outlets show that they have done nothing significant to annihilate or weaken Daesh and other terrorist groups.  

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