Sudanese army participates in Islamic military alliance meeting in Riyadh

March 27, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has participated in the first meeting of the chiefs-of-staff of the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT) which kicked off Sunday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Last December Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a 34-nation military alliance which is expected to deploy troops into Syria to fight the militants of the Islamic State organization (ISIS) and other jihadists groups in the Islamic world.

Sudanese army delegation which was headed by the chief of staff Emad al-Din Mustafa Adawy also included the head of the military intelligence, the director of strategic planning department at the ministry of defence and the assistant chief of staff of the air force.

The meeting is expected to deal with coordinating efforts and working out military, intellectual, financial and media strategies to eradicate the scourge of terrorism.

Saudi Arabia’s official news agency SPA said the deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman met IMAFT’s chiefs of staff of separately ahead of their meeting Sunday.

According to SPA, the deputy crown prince emphasized the importance of coordinating the strategic efforts of Islamic countries in confronting and countering terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Saudi chief of staff, Abdel-Rahman Al-Bunian said that the objectives of the IMAFT mirror the international and accords, saying the alliance aims at combating terrorism.

It is noteworthy that the Islamic alliance does not include two ISIS front lines countries: Syria and Iraq.

The IMAFT is also seen as part of the Saudi military doctrine aiming to build a Sunni military coalition to counter the growing Iran-led Shiite influence in the region.

(ST)