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Saudi Arabia has zero tolerance for all forms of terrorism

September 21, 2016

Jeddah, Sep 21: The Kingdom takes a firm stance against all forms of terrorism whether at the local or international level. It takes significant concrete steps in the fight against the dangerous phenomenon and its devastating consequences. In addition to its leadership at conferences and meetings, Saudi Arabia was the first country to sign a treaty against international terrorism at the OIC in May of 2000.

Saudi

The clear efforts carried out by the Kingdom have earned it accolades, most recently two days ago at the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his appreciation for the Kingdom’s efforts and contributions to the fight against terrorism in a statement by deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

“I emphasize the appreciation of the secretary-general for the contributions made by the Kingdom to the fight against terrorism, including its funding for the Counterterrorism Center,” he said. The Kingdom has provided more than $110 million in funding for the center established in 2011.

On the local level, the Kingdom has fought terrorism by increasing and improving preventative security measures as well as through the actions of security personnel in security confrontations with terrorists.

Saudi security personnel have achieved remarkable results in dealing with such criminals without endangering the lives of citizens living in neighborhoods where the terrorists hide. A remarkable 95 percent of terrorist operations have been thwarted, thanks to a comprehensive security strategy put in place by security authorities. Authorities have also been able to weaken the means of funding and support for the terrorists who also present a danger similar to those carrying out operations on the ground.

The Kingdom has made significant efforts in fighting money laundering by amending its anti-money laundering regulations issued in Royal Order No. M/31 on 11/5/1433 to include many additional and applicable local and international requirements. The Kingdom also hosted a number of conferences, seminars, and training which dealt with money laundering, such as the 15th meeting of the Financial Action Task Force for the Middle East and North Africa in April 2012 in Jeddah.

Through other measures, the Kingdom has improved the means to organize and monitor the entry and exit of funds in order to ensure that funds are documented and bankers keep records of buyers and sellers. Inspections and supervision of money exchange companies are a regular occurrence.

Through its Standing Committee on Anti-Money Laundering, chaired by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Ageny (SAMA) governor, the Kingdom has also formed four working teams concerned with risk, applicants, mutual assessments, and statistics, in order to be aware of developments related to these issues and take practical steps to apply recommendations.

On the international level, the Kingdom has worked to stop the flow of resources of to terrorism and has fought Daesh as part of an international coalition to combat terrorist groups. The Kingdom has monitored for years the actions of such groups in surrounding countries, and has taken steps to close down organizations that fund these organizations under the cover of charity. Additional laws have been passed criminalyzing the funding of terrorism. The Islamic Coalition of 40 states committed to the fight against terrorism recently selected Riyadh to host its meeting to address bilateral efforts in this regard.

The Kingdom also played a prominent role in recent years in helping uncover terror plots and the infiltration of terrorist elements into European cities. In October 2015, British Prime Minister David Cameron revealed his country had received information from the Kingdom about a suicide bombing in London; in 2010, information from the Kingdom uncovered a terrorist attack using bombs on a ship from Yemen to the United States. At the time, President Obama thanked the Kingdom for its role in preventing the planned operation. Security officials from the Kingdom also met with their German counterparts to exchange information and about a terrorist attack that occurred in Germany when the perpetrator had used a Saudi telephone line to contact a Daesh member.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Beirut, Aug 7: A devastating explosion that destroyed much of Beirut might have been the result of a missile attack or bomb, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said, as the death toll from the blast rose to 154.

More than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been sitting in a port warehouse for six years, but there have been conflicting accounts about why Lebanese authorities decided to empty the shipment of explosive material. The vessel carrying the flammable cargo was heading from Georgia to Mozambique when it stopped in the Lebanese port to load up on iron, according to the ship’s captain.

By Friday, 19 suspects had been arrested and Lebanon’s former director general of customs Chafic Merhy had been questioned by military police.

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Agencies
May 1,2020

Saudi Arabia has initiated refund of work visa fee to foreigners unable to travel to the Kingdom due to the suspension of international flights in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic.

Several work visas were cancelled, following which the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the refund. The cancellation and refunding of the stamped visas will be considered effective from the date of issuance of the royal decree on March 18, reported Saudi Gazette.

As a precautionary measure to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Kingdom suspended all international flight. The ministry of health in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced 1,325 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases and 169 recoveries. With this, the total number of cases in the Kingdom now stands at 21,402, while recoveries stand at 2,953, as on Wednesday reported KT.

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News Network
January 16,2020

Abu Dhabi, Jan 16: The number of people being killed by terrorism activities worldwide has decreased significantly over the recent years, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index.

The 2019 Global Terrorism Index, which was presented at a forum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday also showed that the UAE improved its ranking in the index by coming down to 130th rank among the 163 countries. The terrorism impact in the UAE is categorised as 'very low'. In the UAE, only two terrorism incidents were reported over the past decade - one in 2010 and another in 2014 - and there were no casualties.

Commenting on the report, Mansour Al Mansouri, director of the UAE National Media Council (NMC) said: "These findings rightly show the UAE as one of the safest countries in the world in terms of terror threat."

The index showed that the total number of deaths from terrorism declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2018, falling by 15.2 per cent to 15,952 deaths. This represents a 53 per cent reduction since its peak in 2014 when 33,555 people were killed in terrorist attacks.

The index published for the seventh year in a row, ranks 163 countries across the globe according to the relative impact of terrorism. This takes into account the number of terrorist incidents, deaths caused by terror and total value of property damage.

The latest results saw three Middle East countries - Iraq, Syria and Yemen - continue in the top 10 positions of the index.

The findings also showed Taleban overtaking Daesh as the deadliest terrorist group in the world, accounting for 38 per cent of all terrorist deaths. This is an increase of 71 per cent. Afghanistan is the country most affected by terrorism in 2018 followed by Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan, according to the report. The least impacted nations were Belarus, Guinea-Bissau, Oman, The Gambia and North Korea.

During his presentation of the key findings of the index at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of the UAE (FCC), Serge Stroobants, director of Europe and Mena at the Institute of Economics and Peace, said lesser people were now being killed in terrorism activities.

"There have been long-term trends in global terrorism, with deaths caused by terror down by 52 per cent compared to high point of 2014, which saw Daesh and Boko Haram at their peak," said Stroobants attributing the decrease in the deaths to the increase in security measures and cooperation among nations in the fight against terrorism.

In contrast to this, there has been a 320 per cent increase in far-right terrorist incidents in the West, with political ideology being the driving force behind an increased proportion of terror motivation.

"There has been an increase in far-right terrorism in Western Europe, North America and Oceania for the third consecutive year," said Stroobants.

Terrorism still remains a global security threat, according the index, with 71 countries recording more than one death - the second highest number of countries since 2002.

Stroobants said conflicts remain the main cause of terrorism with 90 per cent of terrorist incidents occurring in places where there are conflicts or insurgencies.

The report said the global economic impact of terrorism was $33 billion in 2018, a substantial decrease of 38 per cent from the previous year.

Boko Haram was responsible for 80 per cent of all female suicide attacks, said the terrorism index.

Global Terrorism Index: Most affected countries

>Afghanistan (7379 deaths)

>Iraq (1,054 deaths)

>Nigeria (2,040 deaths)

>Syria (662 deaths)

>Pakistan (537 deaths)

>Somalia (646 deaths)

>India (350 deaths)

>Yemen (301 deaths)

>The Philippines (297 deaths)

>Democratic Republic of the Congo (410 deaths)

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