Jamestown Foundation: In the mid-1990s, Saudi authorities clamped down on the relatively centrist Islamist opposition led by two prominent sheikhs at the helm of the al-Sahwa (awakening) movement named Salman al-Ouda and Safar al-Hawali. The crackdown on al-Ouda and al-Hawali…
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia politics: Fatwa central
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT The king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdelaziz al-Saud, has issued a royal decree outlawing the issue of religious edicts (fatwas) by anyone other than accredited members of the supreme council of ulema (religious scholars).…
Middle East business: Blackberry brinkmanship
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have upped the ante in their effort to secure monitoring access to communications via Blackberry. The threat to pull the plug on the service may be a…
Saudi Arabia business: Going nuclear
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Saudi Arabia has engaged a Finnish consultancy firm to work on a strategy for nuclear and renewable energy. The decision to consider nuclear power as part of the energy mix arises mainly from concern in…
‘Saudi airspace open for Iran attack’
Saudi Arabia will allow Israeli jets to use its airspace to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, theLondon Times reported on Saturday.
Al Qaeda urges Saudi Arabian citizens to abduct royals and Christians
Al-Shihri, deputy leader of Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) called on his supporters in Saudi Arabia to kidnap Christians and Saudi princes to press the release of Heila Al Qsayer, a female Al-Qaeda operative, arrested by Saudi forces, Al-Arabiya news channel reported on…
Gulf security not affected by Iranian spies: Saudi
RIYADH (AFP)— Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz late on Wednesday rejected claims by a Kuwaiti member of parliament that a suspected Iranian spy cell held in the emirate had compromised Gulf security.
Middle East Financial Country Risk Assessments
Iran, Iraq, UAE and Saudi Arabia financial risk assessments.
Saudi security forces arrest over hundred people who plotted attacks against oil facilities
Saudi Arabia‘s state-run media reported on Wednesday that Saudi security services have arrested more than hundred suspected terrorists believed to be linked with Al-Qaeda.
INTEL BRIEFS
SOMALIA’S HIZB AL-ISLAM PLEDGES TO RETAKE TERRITORY LOST TO AL-SHABAAB RIVALS Senior Hizb al-Islam commander Shaykh Ahmad Madobe has declared that Hizb al-Islam is preparing plans to expel rival Islamist militia al-Shabaab from territories in the Juba region of south…