Saudi Arabia’s Presidency of State Security said it uncovered two destructive cells in the country: a terrorist one affiliated with ISIS and that aimed to target two of the defense ministry headquarters and an espionage cell that works with a hostile foreign country. Uncovering the first cell reflects Saudi Arabia’s security success in combating terrorism and eliminating it by carrying out pre-emptive operations. What’s new, however, is the second cell which operates upon the directions and orders of a foreign state and receives moral and financial support from it to harm the Saudi kingdom and its unity and create frustration within its society.



Qatar’s hostility towards Saudi Arabia has been well-known for more than 20 years. Former Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa has talked about it during his famous conversation with Moaamar al-Qaddafi as he said: “We have relations with the opposition. We are the country which caused a lot of trouble for Saudi Arabia. We must work for this axis by calmly encouraging this domestic activity. It’s in our interest to calmly support these movements as it’s all a matter of time.” The questions though are who represents the opposition inside Saudi Arabia? Who represents these local movements which Qatar’s former emir encourages? Who are the people working with Qatar?



Many researchers and authors wrote plenty of articles warning of the suspicious relations between Qatar and symbols of political Islam and some youths and intellectuals in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. It was clear that they all served Qatar’s destructive project that’s allied with Iran’s sectarian axis and the Muslim Brotherhood’s fundamentalist axis against Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Arab countries. Researchers’ work is to gather available information and analyze it according to what’s been made public; however, no matter how good their analyses are, they still do not have access to accurate data which state institutions have.



The statement of the Presidency of State Security answered some of these questions as it has accurate information and it’s thus much more alert than researchers and authors. Let’s not anticipate the results of the investigation and the judicial procedures as facts will eventually emerge and reveal a lot about the conspiracies and suspicious roles of figures who have spoken out against Saudi Arabia, particularly after the ominous Arab Spring. Some symbols of extremism in Saudi Arabia fled the country and resorted to Qatar or Turkey. Some secretly went there while others did not hide it and even stated that they got the Qatari nationality. Qatar’s moral support to these figures is well-known. Investigation will show whether it also financially supported them. Qatar spent billions to sabotage some Arab countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Yemen, and it certainly spent even more to plot against Saudi Arabia.

Enemies of the homeland

Nothing is more despising than those who work with their homeland’s enemies against their own country and its stability and security. Even rivals know how despicable those who work against their countries are. Facts began to come together and even more will surface. Traitors have no excuses and their actions cannot be justified no matter what his national or leftist excuses are. A traitor is a traitor.



Lack of understanding is dooming. When Saudi Arabia listed the Brotherhood as a terror group, Qatar’s and the Brotherhood’s agents did not fully comprehend this and ignored it. When Saudi Arabia announced the state of decisiveness, they also failed to understand this and did not back down. They also failed to comprehend the situation when Saudi Arabia announced the Decisive Storm Operation and when it said it will target Iran’s agents in Yemen. They also failed to get the message after the Riyadh Summit was held and after Saudi Arabia voiced complete willingness to eliminate terrorism and extremism. What is worse than all this is that none of them repented after the four Arab countries boycotted Qatar and exposed its destructive roles and conspiracies.



Investigating this cell will expand to include anyone who played a role or participated in conspiring against his country. There’s a history which must be looked into. For example, what are the roles which some played to pave way for the so-called Arab Spring in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt? What sort of mediations happened to get al-Qaeda members and Libyan armed groups out of prison and appoint them as leaders of terrorist groups after the 2011 developments?



What’s the story of the Academy of Change in Qatar? What are some Saudis’ role in it? What’s the issue with the Youth Rising Forum which recruited Saudi youths against their country? What’s the issue with Azmi Bishara’s students whom it recruits and pits against their countries and people? What’s with the publishing houses, websites and fake IP addresses managed by Saudis with Qatar’s full support? All these questions will eventually be answered in the next phase.



Promoting the revolution’s doctrine or bragging about freedom or independent opinions while hiding behind supporting the spring of chaos and fundamentalism do not justify treason and do not exempt one from legal accountability if he’s involved in the enemies’ conspiracies against his homeland. Let’s keep in mind that these cases are most of the times like a snowball.



It’s normal to mobilize Qatar and Iran’s agents and political Islam groups and media outlets in the region and the West to attack Saudi Arabia as they want to confuse the cause and save whatever can be saved from these conspirators. However these attempts will not obstruct justice.



Qatar supported all Sunni and Shiite terror groups in the region and supported political Islam groups, such as the Brotherhood, the Sururists and others. It mainly supported these groups in Egypt and Bahrain. Doha’s ties with these groups have been made public, and Qatar has certainly done the same thing in Saudi Arabia.



Treason and espionage cannot be forgiven as they leave a mark on one’s history forever. It’s time for accountability.



This article is also available in Arabic.

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Abdullah bin Bijad al-Otaibi is a Saudi writer and researcher. He is a member of the board of advisors at Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center. He tweets under @abdullahbjad.



Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:49 - GMT 06:49