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 This force would be summoned if the 20,000 British citizens in Saudi had to be withdrawn in a hurry.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.
I suppose the easiest port to ride out this storm, from the Saud perspective, would be Kuwait.
that would mean that the US GOVT. knew where Johnson was while alive. Doubtful.
LOL!
There are only about 30,000 or 40,000 royals who do the shopping in S.A.. The rest are a pious bunch Wahhabis commoners who have nothing else to live for except their religion. These, number about 20 million in S.A. and -- they don't shop!
They could resist.
Sorry I meant the royals
Hey "Goofy".......tick.....tick.....tick......
NO, most likely it means that nobody knew where the bad guys were, until after they downloaded the pictures to the website in England.
You or Freereign, meant the royals, ?
Then Carter has the unbelievable nerve to go on TV and say he didn't use force to free the hostages so he could "preserve the integrity of my country." This statement after he stabbed our Iranian allies in the back. Carter is just such a jackass. He's probably our worst president ever in the foreign policy arena.
Side note, Foxnews just said there was a car bomb near a Hospital in Iraq, probably Baghdad.
I don't see anything on news wires where I am looking.
Yeah, Carter was an arrogant jackass as President. He always thought he knew more than everyone else about all the issues, so he didn't listen to knowledgable advisors who could have prevented his biggest mistakes. Once he was asked why he didn't like to meet with Congressmen and he replied..."I know more about the issues than they do. They waste my time."
Damn!
If they bombed a hospital, that just proves these terrorists in Iraq are certifiably insane.
They may just do a little killing to stay sharp!!
Thanks...I'm turning in shortly.
I agree, I sense a huge movement, in concert.
Speacial Air Service. The British version of The Navy Seals. Very tough bastards.
Good point.
As if we needed proof of that?
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