The first and deadly strike of the International Islamic Front of Osama bin Laden since its restructuring will be a setback for the Saudi monarchy and could force them to back off from any U. S.-sponsored peace formula for the Middle East. At the same time, more at- tacks can be expected, particularly in Egypt, as with Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to drive a wedge between that country and the U. S. A. over the U. S. peace initiative in the Middle East.

The three simultaneous bombings in housing compounds for foreigners in the Saudi capital Riyadh last fortnight left at least 29 people dead—seven of them Americans—according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, as well as the nine suicide car bombers. The Saudi police seized a huge stash of explosives, weapons and cash following a shootout with suspected terrorists in the capital. The Interior Ministry said the police were hunting "19 terrorists, 17 of them Saudis" who "intended to carry out acts of terrorism". Al-Majallah, a sister publication of Arab News, citing an e-mail message from a newly-appointed Al-Qaeda spokesman, Thabet ibn Qais, said last week that "an attack against America was inevitable." Al-Qaeda has "carried out changes in its leadership and sidelined the September 11, 2001 team," the magazine quoted Thabet as saying. "Future missions have been entrusted to a new team, which is well protected against the U. S. intelligence services," the magazine said. "The old leadership does not know the names of any of its members."

Bin Laden’s International Islamic Front, a grouping of Al-Qaeda and several other terrorist networks, has restructured and the driver of this new international brigade is the Egyptian Jamaat al-Jehad, led by Dr. Aiman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s right-hand man. (This group merged with Al-Qaeda, but it has an independent following in Egypt). The article pointed out that the Jamaat’s leaders have redirected the energies of militants to concentrate purely on U. S. targets, saying that it is the real enemy. It also pointed out that the network would operate with a new team and a new name and would strike at U. S. interests sooner rather than later.

The latest attacks in Riyadh will place the ruling monarchy in Saudi Arabia under intense pressure, and the political structure of the kingdom is such that it will have to take action on any new demands that the extremists might make. In 1980, a group of Islamic hard-liners rebelled against the Saudi monarchy. The rebellion was crushed and the dissidents executed. But subsequently the monarchy met their demands and implemented more strict Islamic rules in the country. Saudi Arabia has in the past been the victim of terror attacks to force the leadership to sever its ties with the U. S. A. In November 1995, five Americans and two Indians were killed and 60 people injured in an explosion in a car park near a U. S.-run military training centre in Riyadh. In June 1996, a bomb in a fuel truck killed 19 American soldiers and wounded nearly 400 people at a U. S. military housing complex in Alkhobar. A U. S. troop withdrawal from Saudi Arabia has been one of the main demands of Al-Qaeda and bin Laden. The U. S. A. said on April 29 that it was ending military operations in the kingdom and removing virtually all of its forces (currently about 10,000) by next month. Once they are gone, the hard-liners can be expected to step up their demands, possibly for stronger anti-West policies, or even complete chaos in society. Saudi Arabia has claimed recently that it had successfully broken several Al-Qaeda cells in the country and arrested over 300 people, but the reality appears to be different. Although specific social and political factors make Saudi Arabia vulnerable to hard-liners, at present the entire Arab world is passing through a difficult stage, and even secular and relatively liberal Egypt is no exception, where the Muslim Brotherhood is enjoying a new lease of life following the fall of Baghdad.

For the first time in many decades, hundreds of thousands of people have welcomed or attended the Brotherhood’s country-wide demonstrations denouncing those Arab states with pro-U. S. policies.

Beating the summer 250 years ago