The United States condemns recent calls by ISIS to target individuals and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, US State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told Al Arabiya English on Monday.
On Sunday, an ISIS spokesman called on the extremist group’s supporters to target westerners, oil pipelines, and economic infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
Read more: Saudi Arabia sentences three ISIS-linked terrorists to death for 2017 Jeddah attack
“We condemn any such calls by ISIS to target infrastructure or individuals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and will continue to work in partnership with Saudi Arabia and the Global Coalition to defeat ISIS’s dark and desperate aims,” State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said.
ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al-Muhajir said in a speech released Sunday that Saudi Arabia supported “normalization with Israel” by opening its airspace for Israeli flights to neighboring Gulf states and called on ISIS supporters to target the Kingdom.
Men suspected of being ISIS fighters wait to be searched by members of the SDF after leaving the group’s last holdout of Baghouz in Syria, on February 22, 2019. (AFP)
The extremist specifically mentioned “hitting and destroying oil pipelines, factories and facilities.”
The threats come as two Gulf states – the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
Read more: First Emirati passenger plane lands in Israel from UAE
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites and is the world’s largest oil exporter, has stressed the need to step up efforts to reach a lasting and sustainable peace agreement among the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said last month that Saudi Arabia’s stance on the Palestinian cause is “firm” and “will not change” by allowing the flights flying from all countries over its airspace to the UAE.
- With Reuters
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