Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman at a rare news conference in Riyadh announcing the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism. Photo courtesy of Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on state news agency SPA.

“The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations centre based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations,” said the statement released on Tuesday (Dec. 15).

A long list of Arab countries such as Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, together with Islamic countries Turkey, Malaysia, Pakistan and Gulf Arab and African states, were mentioned.

The announcement cited “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organizations whatever their sect and name which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorize the innocent.”

Shiite Muslim Iran, Sunni 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.

The U.S. has been increasingly outspoken about its view that Gulf Arab states should do more to aid the military campaign against the Islamic State militant group, known as ISIS, based in Iraq and Syria.

In a rare press conference, 30-year-old deputy crown prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman told reporters that the campaign would “coordinate” efforts to fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan, but offered few concrete indications of how military efforts might proceed.

“There will be international coordination with major powers and international organizations … in terms of operations in Syria and Iraq. We can’t undertake these operations without coordinating with legitimacy in this place and the international community,” bin Salman said without elaborating.

Asked if the new alliance would focus just on ISIS, bin Salman said it would confront not only that group but “any terrorist organization that appears in front of us.”

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab neighbors have been locked in nine months of warfare with Iran-allied rebels in neighboring Yemen, launching hundreds of air strikes there.

Especially after a rash of attacks on Western targets claimed by ISIS in recent months, the U.S. has increasingly said it thinks that firepower would better be used against ISIS.

As a ceasefire is set to take hold in Yemen on Tuesday alongside United Nations-backed peace talks, Riyadh’s announcement may signal a desire to shift its attention back toward the conflicts north of its borders.

ISIS has pledged to overthrow the monarchies of the Gulf and has mounted a series of attacks on Shiite mosques and security forces in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

(Reuters)