Karachi, Dec 15 : Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to fight terrorism following a US statement that Gulf Arab states should do more to aid the military campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
According to Dawn, other countries mentioned in a joint statement were Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates Turkey, Malaysia and Gulf Arab and African states.
The military alliance will have a joint operations center based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations.
Iran, Saudi Arabia’s archrival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen. (ANI)