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News ID: 14378
Publish Date : 27 May 2015 - 21:47

Muslim States Tackle Tafiri Threat

KUWAIT CITY (Dispatches) -- Muslim countries must increase measures to fight extremism, Kuwait's emir said Wednesday, at the start of a conference aimed at combating the spread of Takfiri organizations such as ISIL.
"We are required to intensify efforts with the world to combat terrorism being waged by terrorist organizations," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told attendees at a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
"We need to take a serious stand against sectarian tensions plaguing and dividing our nations... It is the most serious threat against the very existence of Muslim countries," the Kuwaiti emir said.
Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are among countries attending the conference, which is expected to see the 57-member OIC approve an "effective strategy to combat terrorism, violent extremism and Islamophobia", the organization said.
The strategy, expected to be approved later Wednesday, will focus on Islamic world responses to the root causes of "terrorism" including poverty, underdevelopment, unresolved conflicts and sectarianism, the OIC said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia was itself the scene of a terrorist bombing by Takfiri extremists against a Shia mosque that martyred 21 people during Friday prayers last week.
Sheikh Sabah also urged Iran to cooperate with the international community to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program and to respond to efforts by countries in the region to establish closer ties.
In a letter published in Kuwaiti newspapers Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, who was attending the meeting, said his country was prepared to engage in dialogue in order to resolve the region's several conflicts.
Zarif said Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen will be to the detriment of Riyadh officials.
"Airstrikes against the Yemeni people won't help settle problems and conflicts,” Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of the 42nd annual OIC meeting.
The invasion has been of no use to Saudi Arabia and only created hatred among the Yemeni people, said the top Iranian diplomat.
He said Iran seeks a brighter future for all regional nations, adding Riyadh’s aggression against Yemen would be detrimental to Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 without a United Nations mandate.
The Saudi airstrikes aim to weaken the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and major provinces, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia.
Since March,the UN says, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 others injured due to the conflict in Yemen. However, according to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of about 4,000 Yemeni people.
Zarif said Iran has proposed four issues to settle the crisis in Yemen, including the establishment of a ceasefire, the dispatch of humanitarian aid, the holding of intra-Yemeni dialog and the formation of an inclusive national unity government.
He called on foreign countries to help settle the ongoing crisis in war-wracked Yemen rather than hamper the process.
In a letter to the UN secretary general on April 17, the Iranian foreign minister submitted a four-point peace plan in an effort to put an end to the bloodshed in Yemen.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif said all regional countries must forge collective cooperation to tackle the increasing challenges in the region.
"Dialogue and understanding with regional countries is a priority on Iran’s foreign policy,” he added.
He noted that sectarian discord, terrorist groups such as the ISIL and war are common threats against all countries in the region.
Iran is keen to have close relations with member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the minister pointed out.
Zarif also reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Iraqi nation and government, particularly in the fight against the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group.
The minister said he is ready to visit the Saudi capital of Riyadh for talks over ways of ending the war on Yemen.
Zarif said Iran seeks good relations with Saudi Arabia and "does not like to see the current measures against the Yemeni people continue since the military operation does not contribute to the resolution of the crisis”.