Posted on 06/22/2004 7:05:05 PM PDT by blam
SAS ordered into Saudi Arabia to shield embassy
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 23/06/2004)
A 25-man SAS team has been sent to Saudi Arabia to bolster security at the British embassy and plan a possible mass evacuation of foreigners, defence sources said last night.
The squad is backed by many more special forces troopers in neighbouring Qatar. This force would be summoned if the 20,000 British citizens in Saudi had to be withdrawn in a hurry.
The members of the SAS team are counter-revolutionary warfare specialists and were deployed last week.
The larger SAS force has been given diplomatic clearance by the Saudi authorities to move straight into the country should any threat develop against the embassy, which is seen as a prime target for Saudi militants linked to al-Qa'eda.
The kingdom has been shaken by a series of attacks in recent months that culminated last week in the beheading of Paul Johnson, an American expatriate worker.
The Saudi leader of the terrorists was later killed as he attempted to dispose of the body.
The deployment is the clearest sign yet that Britain is extremely worried about the worsening security situation in Saudi Arabia, despite assurances from officials that they have the whip hand over home-grown religious zealots.
This month, a television cameraman was killed and a BBC journalist, Frank Gardner, was wounded in a terrorist attack in the Saudi capital.
Two Britons were killed and 15 injured in a bomb attack on a British compound in Riyadh in May last year.
Security agencies have noted that terrorists have been able to strike even in well-protected areas, such as the Riyadh compounds and in al-Khobar, where large numbers of foreign contractors work.
There is a growing sense that al-Qa'eda poses a major threat to the Saudi regime.
"There is very serious nervousness about the situation in Saudi Arabia," one British official said.
Last night the Ministry of Defence dismissed the suggestion that the SAS were protecting the British embassy but would not deny their presence in Saudi Arabia.
The SAS troops, armed with MP5 machineguns and Glock 17 pistols, wear civilian clothes. They have been given clearance by the Saudi authorities to shoot any attacker who tries to kidnap or ambush embassy staff.
They are working closely with Saudi special forces and have surveillance equipment and hi-tech sensors.
A TEAM of Arabic-speaking intelligence officers recruited from Britain's Muslim community will help the SAS.
A senior official said they would act as "eyes and ears" for the SAS team inside the local community. "They will provide vital feedback from the streets and will give us a major foothold in the war against al-Qa'eda," he said.
MI5 and MI6 made strenuous efforts to recruit Arabic-speaking officers from within the British community after the rise of Islamic terrorism and the September 11 attacks.
A room in the embassy has been turned into an operations centre for the SAS team. A Royal Military Police close-protection team has also deployed to the embassy and will act as bodyguards for the ambassador.
Since arriving in Riyadh, the SAS team has been studying the types of target that al-Qa'eda has hit so far in an attempt to identify a pattern of operation.
Members of the team are working around the clock to ensure the safety of diplomatic staff and their families.
They are shadowing British diplomats travelling outside the embassy compound and ensuring that routes used by embassy drivers are changed daily. Anyone who leaves the embassy is offered protection.
The SAS team is making daily security assessments and briefing staff about potential threats as well as identifying weaknesses in protection at the building.
Embassy staff have been advised not to use local buses, to avoid using taxis and not to go shopping on Friday, the Muslim holy day.
Despite the reputation of the SAS, one source expressed concern about the difficulties of tracking al-Qa'eda and working out what it was planning to attack.
"We are always several steps behind them," he said. "They have the initiative because they have been preparing for so long.
"It is clear that safe houses, weapons caches and targets are all pre-determined. There is very little left to chance with these people. Their attacks are ugly but very clinical."
The team has already recommended that stronger defences, including metal mesh netting such as that used to protect police stations in Northern Ireland, be installed to protect the embassy against rocket and mortar attacks.
The Foreign Office is considering that but is reluctant to make the embassy into a fortress and is also considering proposals to move its location.
Contingency plans have already been drawn up to pull out British nationals if al-Qa'eda launches a big attack. The SAS team will be responsible for putting them into practice.
The SAS will act as a forward co-ordination cell for any emergency evacuation. Despite Foreign Office warnings that non-essential staff should leave, more than 20,000 British nationals are still in Saudi Arabia.
A key task for the SAS will be to identify assembly points in the event of an incident.
So many aircraft would be needed to fly the Britons to safety that they would initially be taken to a nearby third country to keep an air bridge free.
A team of Arabic-speaking intelligence officers recruited from Britain's Muslim community will help the SAS.
A senior official said they would act as "eyes and ears" for the SAS team inside the local community. "They will provide vital feedback from the streets and will give us a major foothold in the war against al-Qa'eda," he said.
MI5 and MI6 made strenuous efforts to recruit Arabic-speaking officers from within the British community after the rise of Islamic terrorism and the September 11 attacks.
wahabi wabbit season might just have opened
Qatar
If the House of Saud gets serious about taking out the Al Qeade level operatives this will send enough of a tone to the Clerics, etc - For the most part, some Clerics will probably have to die - but death becoming people in the Middle-East is nothing new -
I just don't see the House of Saud falling because to much is at stake to keep them in office - for themselves one - they are extremely rich (this can and most likely will continue to buy them security within their own Country) - they are also of importance to us as well as Eastern Europe and much of East Asia - therefore I see them surviving this.
In fact, if GWB wins reelection I see the House of Saudi having an internal struggle within 2005-2006 in which a much more pro-American shift will take place -
Obviously the next few months are going to be very tense.
Thanks for the ping.
Oh, I think a more American-friendly shift will take place, especially when Americans start writing all the history books for the school kids there.
Maybe. But if Abdullah can remove Al Qaeda from the equation then you might see the majority of the House of Saud return to what it really likes doing.
Making camel loads of money selling oil to the west.
Any remaining disgruntled rear-hump royals could be more easily handled without an Al Qaeda organization around.
We ought to just start preparing for an oil shock and do what we have to do. Once they realize what we are up to all this nonsense will stop. This pussyfooting around is getting us nowhere. The Euro-weenies might get off their asses if they thought we were getting ready to do something drastic.
It's time to call in the Saudi bluff !
I suggest they build a spaceship and jettison themselves towards the sun.
That'll get them accustomed to their final infernal destination.
I wish the SAS were sent to those British sailors being held captive. I bet the battle would be sudden and very decisive.
The asymmetric resistance we would see in Saudi Arabia if our troops had to occupy it, would be much larger than what we saw in Iraq. And more locals would meld into the resistance in Saudi Arabia than what occurred in Iraq.
That makes sense if the Arab rulers of Iran want to reflect back on Arabia to restore Islamic purity to the owners of Mecca. The thing I see is Israel being the major impediment to the Iranian plan, and the US invasion of Iraq keeping Israel out of the picture so as to preserve the oil fields from being nuked as Israel is overrun.
Cleaning-house-before-hell-breaking-loose PING.
yeah but for the saudis and much of the middle east it is about appearance. I would bet Saudi intellegence ( oximoron for sure) knew who, and where Johnson was being held. I imagine they may have assisted,like al queda said. But when it went south they gave the order to whack them as a show of strength. To say.. See we are taking care of the problem. They just don't get the fact that they could have stopped it or not assisted in his kidnapping as an option. They are just that blind.
ping
Um not sure about that... you see the saudis would have to hire philipinos, or indians to shoot the RPGs the saudis dont really do much of anything except shop.
I wouldn't completely rule that out either.
I read somewhere today that it was US intellegence that told them where the bad guys were.
The Sauds were behind the beheading. They probably sense what we are about to do to Iran and it's some kind of warning shot.
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