Saudi King Abdullah warned on Saturday that the situation in the Middle East -- from the Palestinian territories to the Gulf -- was potentially explosive and likened it to a powder keg.
"Our Arab region is surrounded by dangers," said the monarch at the opening of a summit for leaders of the oil-rich Arab Gulf countries. "It is like a keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark to explode."
Palestinians were fighting among themselves, and Iraq "is about to slip into the darkness of strife and mad struggle," and so is Lebanon, King Abdullah said.
Following the Saudi monarch's speech, the leaders began a closed session.
The summit will discuss how to head off escalating dangers that threaten to spill over into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including the spiraling sectarian violence in Iraq and the nuclear standoff that pits a defiant Iran against the West.
The two-day GCC meeting in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, is also expected to discuss a US advisory panel's recent report and recommendations on Iraq, a Saudi diplomat said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.
The GCC is a political and economic alliance gathering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
The Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan US commission, released a report on Wednesday that called for the US to engage Syria and Iran in a diplomatic effort to stabilize Iraq.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned earlier this week that Iraq "poses a great challenge to the region, its security and its future" and called for "halting all forms of interference in Iraq" -- an apparent reference to Syria and Iran.
Each has ties with the major groups involved in Iraq's sectarian violence.
Iran has influence with Shiite Muslim parties that dominate the US-backed government and have militias blamed for much of the sectarian bloodshed.
Syria has links to Sunni Arabs, the main force in the insurgency, as the temporary home to many who have fled Iraq.
But both Iran and Syria deny supporting violence in Iraq. Iran Tehran is close to Shiite Muslim parties that dominate the government, while Damascus has ties to Sunni Arabs, their main rivals for power.
But Damascus and Tehran both deny US and Iraqi accusations that they support Arab insurgents and Shiite fighters operating in Iraq.
Kuwaiti columnist Youssef al-Rashed wrote Saturday he was alarmed by suggestions made by the Iraq Study Group because they could negatively affect his and other Gulf nations.
"If the US is unable to manage the situation [in Iraq] shrewdly, any sudden or premature pullout would result in a security vacuum that would affect us all," al-Rashed wrote in Kuwait's al-Anba daily.
Kuwaitis have expressed fears that the increasing Sunni-Shiite bloodshed in Iraq could spill over to their country that has a 30 percent Shiite minority. Similar concerns are shared by Saudi Arabia, which is up to 15 percent Shiite, and Bahrain, the tiny island kingdom ruled by Sunnis but with a Shiite majority.
Gulf countries also say they're worried about Iran's disputed nuclear program.
Iran is in a standoff with the West over refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
The US and some allies allege Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, and are pressing for sanctions against the Shiite Muslim country.
But Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly vowed to press on with enrichment.
The Persian nation's first reactor in Bushehr -- across the Gulf from Saudi Arabia -- is projected to go on line late next year.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS