Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has issued a statement about what’s going on in Egypt:
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced on Friday that the kingdom supports Egypt in its fight “against terrorism.”
King Abdullah said Egypt’s stability is being targeted by “haters,” warning that anyone interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs is “igniting sedition.” King Abdullah added that Egypt is able to cross to safety.
The Egyptian presidency hailed King Abdullah’s support, saying Egypt will “never” forget his “historic stance.”
Both Jordan and the UAE also praised King Abdullah’s support for the Egyptian government.
Saleh al-Qallab, a Jordanian political analyst, told Al Arabiya that Saudi Arabia will not leave the Egyptian military alone. “The situation in Egypt is very critical and Saudi Arabia has put itself on the right side of history,” he said.
Qallab added that King Abdullah had to “take a historical step and side with the correct form of Islam.”
as quoted in Al Arabiya The equations being presented are pretty straightforward. Egypt = Egypt’s military government. Terrorists = Muslim Brotherhood. Some have also said that the king is criticizing Western support for the Muslim Brotherhood, tepid as it may be.
There’s some basis for the king’s position. Egyptian authorities have arrested Mohammed al-Zawahri, the brother of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri,
Mohammed al-Zawahri’s group espouses a hard-line ideology but was not clandestine prior to Egypt’s July 3 coup. He was allied with ousted President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, whose supporters are now taking to the streets to protest the killings of its supporters in a security crackdown last week.
The official declined to give further details. He spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Authorities said earlier that al-Zawahri had commanded insurgents in Sinai Peninsula.
The news reports have some lacunae. For example, there’s no word on whether Mohammed al-Zawahri was fleeing Cairo or moving towards it. Or whether he’s as violent as his brother.
There really hasn’t been enough coverage of what’s been going on in the Sinai where there have been multiple armed attacks by Morsi supporters against the Egyptian military, somewhat cutting against the image of peaceful protest by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters.
