(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) A fierce gun battle today in Riyadh has resulted in security forces killing the leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.
Yunis Muhammad Ibrahim al-Hayari, a Moroccan, was killed during a raid on Sunday by security forces on an area where suspected militants were hiding, an Interior Ministry official was quoted by Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as saying.
The clashes took place in the Rawdah district, an upscale neighbourhood in eastern Riyadh, said Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Mansour al-Turki.
The unidentified official, quoted by SPA, said al-Hayari headed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in the kingdom, which has been ravaged by attacks during more than two years of violence.
by the Saudi Interior Ministry on Tuesday. It's likely that the issuance of the list, along with a generous offer of rewards for information, led to the raids which resulted in al-Hayari's one-way ticket to the 72 virgins in fundamentalist Islamic heaven.
Could it be that average Saudi citizens, lured by reward money and disgusted by the indiscriminate killing of innocent bystanders, are now regularly notifying the authorities with information about the terrorists?
1
Happy 4th of July, indeed.
Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge at July 03, 2005 10:45 AM (mrpxK)
2
"Saudis. They pump the sewage out in the belief that they can to keep it from leaking back in. Unfortunately, as the levels outside the septic tank which spawned it rise, the backpressure will build to levels even a Saudi sphincter can't obstruct."
Posted by: SheikhOsamaBeenStinken at July 03, 2005 12:48 PM (2vX1h)
3
Or is it just that the Saudis are attempting to look strong in the war on terror to divert the US attention to the fact that they are part of the rising oil prices?
(not all to blame mind you ... I put a bulk of the blame on the wall street "speculators" out looking to pump up profits, but usually the Saudis force OPEC to increase production to compensate for the raises).
Posted by: Jonathan at July 03, 2005 02:17 PM (M7kiy)
4
The Saudis are attempting to have it both ways, as they've always done. They sponsor the most ultra fanatical sect of Islam, give money to agitators and terrorists, and yet pretend to be our friends. Now to us this is duplicitous, but to Arabs, it's business as usual. In the Arab world, betrayal, duplicity, and dishonesty are not mutually exclusive to political partnerships. Among Arabs, nobody is surprised to find they've been betrayed by an ally, rather the opposite, they are surprised to find that an ally actually stood by them. Arabs are treasonous by nature and haven't the capcity to honor a commitment, a trait which we in the civilized world seem to be determined to not learn about them, or at least we are unwilling to admit it.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at July 03, 2005 03:02 PM (0yYS2)
5
Or Saudi just makes up these lists and fills them the names of reformists and opposition figures. I mean, how do we reeeeeeally know this dude was Al Qaeda?
/takes tinfoil hat off
Would anyone here put it past Saudi Arabia to do something like that? Heh...
Posted by: Ariya at July 03, 2005 06:15 PM (IXXEm)
6
Call it wasp-hunting intuition... that guy was a terrorist punk.
Posted by: Downing Street Memo at July 04, 2005 05:43 AM (ScqM8)
7
No Ariya, I wouldn't, and in fact, I would bet money that you are right. The Saudi royals are playing a dangerous game, one which they cannot win, and I doubt they will survive, but then, Arabs aren't realists anyway, especially not the Saudi royals. After all, how much of a realist can someone be if they live in a palace and have a personal 747 to fly them to lunch in Paris while their people live in abject poverty?
The House-O-Sa'ud is a house of cards built on a foundation of corruption, extremism, bribery, treachery, and lies, and it will not stand much longer. The ironic thing is that as bad as they are, they are not the worst. If the royals are overthrown and some cleric gets in power, then global jihad and war on Israel will be guaranteed, and the only recourse we will have will be to invade an occupy Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at July 04, 2005 09:40 AM (0yYS2)
Hide Comments
| Add Comment
