Game of interests and alliances in the Middle East
16 June 2017 | In the Media
Ideology, influence, politics, media, alliances, enmities, economic interests and war. There are many factors to consider in order to understand the complex web of tensions facing the Arabian Gulf and Middle East countries today.
Lurdes Vidal, Head of the Arab and Mediterranean World department at the IEMed, spoke about all this in an interview on the program El matí on Ràdio 4 to explain the reasons behind the blockade of Qatar by its neighbors from the Gulf, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.
“Both countries follow a rigorous view of Islam, Wahhabism, but with nuances and political differences,” she said. The relations Qatar has with Iran, the top antagonist of the Saudi monarchy in the region, play an important role, as does the Qatari regime’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which, “despite being conservative, questions the Wahhabism and the legitimacy of Saudi Arabia ”.
At the same time, Vidal considers the role of Al-Jazeera as key in this scenario, “a soft power for Qatar and a nuisance for other regimes”. Indeed, one of the main targets of al-Jazeera, the Al-Sissi regime in Egypt, now supports Saudi Arabia. “Each actor looks at its own interests when reading the situation, and if the Muslim Brotherhood is the main enemy of the Egyptian general, he will take a stand against Qatar,” the IEMed expert argues.
Contradictions and game of balances
However, she adds, the contradictions in this conflict are obvious, starting with the United States, which, while supporting the actions of the Saudis through its president’s social networks, “sells fighter planes to Qatar, where they also have a base from which most of their operations against Islamic State come from ”.
“It’s a game of balance,” says Vidal, but in the meantime, “whoever wins with the growing confrontation in the region and the consequent escalation of tensions and mutual accusations between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the Islamic state.” Despite losing territory in Syria and Iraq, “the terrorist group continues to have a sufficiently strong network in the region and sufficient capacity to act in non-Muslim-majority countries such as the United Kingdom.” “The idea of jihadism transcends the Islamic State,” she said, “and it will survive even if the organization disappears.”