OPINION: Will ISIS Capture Arabian Peninsula?

During Friday prayers on May 22, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shiite mosque of Imam Ali in the province of Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia. The bomber was a Saudi citizen operating in a cell of the Islamic State. More than 20 people were killed and at least 100 injured. It was the first attack of this kind committed by ISIS on Saudi territory.

With this act of terrorism, ISIS planned to demonstrate their capabilities and impress both the enemies and the supporters, and prove that the Saudi authorities are unable to do anything against the terrorist threat. At the same time, it conducted a massive promotion through social networks, in the attempt to seize control of this means of spreading ideas. The ISIS continues to apply terror as an important tool for the realization of its goal – the creation of a worldwide caliphate.

Spreading ISIS terror in the Arabian Peninsula is not too new. In March, 2015 in Yemen the terrorists made a double attack in two Shiite mosques, killing at least 140 people. In Saudi Arabia, ISIS militants repeatedly fired on Shiite citizens, employees of power structures and foreign workers. Last year in his speech ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called the leaders of Saudi Arabia “the head of the snake” and urged supporters to carry out attacks. He talked less about it in May, when criticized Saudi Arabia for its cooperation with the Crusaders, Jews and Shiites.

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, there was a wave of arrests, the last of which took place in April. Then more than 100 people were arrested. Many of them are suspected of involvement with ISIS and groups “Jund al-Balad Al-Haramain”. Despite these and other measures, the authorities of the kingdom were not able prevent the attack in a Shiite mosque.

Selecting a Shiite mosque as a target for a terrorist attack corresponded to the strategy and aims of ISIS: to strike at the Shiite population, which ISIS considers heretics and collaborators, and sees them as their main enemies. The second goal is to undermine the stability in Saudi Arabia, which has become a leader of the Arab countries united to fight ISIS. Attacking Saudi Shiites ISIS intends to stir up conflicts between people of different faiths.

Today Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria passed into the hands of supporters of the Caliphate. Islamic State seeks to restore the image of the winner, the avenger Arab countries for their participation in the international coalition at war with ISIS. As part of this strategy ISIS carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The attacks also serve as a substitute for military intervention, which the ISIS can’t afford because of lack of resources. The promotion in social networks designed to enhance the information efficiency of acts of terrorism, and to fix in the public mind the idea of the presence of the groups in the Arabian Peninsula. Thus, al-Baghdadi hopes to strengthen the confidence of his supporters in the region and bring them under the black banners of ISIS.