Saudi Arabia cracks down on Islamists

The warnings, the latest of which advised US citizens on December 17 to consider leaving the country, spoke volumes for the downturn in decades-long friendly ties between Washington and Riyadh.

Once Washington's closest Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia has since the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudis, been at the receiving end of criticism from US quarters that its own system, based on a rigorous doctrine of Islam, fosters religious extremism.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Kuwait and tiny Qatar have since replaced Riyadh as nerve centers of the US military presence in the region, as illustrated by their roles in the US-led war on Iraq, which left Washington in control of that strategically important country and moved Saudi Arabia further down the US ladder.

But Saudi officials are pulling out all the stops to counter both the terror threat which hit home twice this year and claims that they brought it upon themselves.

Hundreds of Islamist extremists, suspected sympathizers of Saudi-born al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, were rounded up in the wake of three simultaneous attacks on expatriate housing complexes in the capital on May 12 which killed 35 people, including eight Americans.

The attacks -- which some diplomats here have called Saudi Arabia's "own 9/11" -- prompted Saudi leaders, chiefly Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, not just to strike hard at militants, but also to launch an offensive against the "deviant" thinking of extremists.