The Saudi Army and Its Commanders... Thank You and a Thousand Thanks

Sometimes it is wise to respond with a deterrent punishment, especially if one has long endured the aggressor’s rudeness. How much more so when the perpetrator is a group operating outside the law and both national and international legitimacy?

This introduction serves as a prelude to Saudi Arabia’s response to terrorist crimes committed by an Iranian-backed militia group from Iraqi territory. Such an act of terrorist aggression must, by every national, regional, and international standard, be met with severe accountability. For discipline, at times, requires amputating the diseased limb.

On this basis, the Saudi military’s response to crimes committed by Iranian-backed Iraqi factions was a successful surgical strike. It also sent a clear message: henceforth, no one will be permitted to encroach upon the Kingdom or any Gulf state. The same applies to the Houthi group, whose attacks on Saudi territory were met with a massive and devastating response.

Containing extremism progresses through several stages, beginning with patience and a conciliatory approach to appeal to reason, if any exists, and allowing diplomatic channels to restrain the aggressor. This approach also takes into account relations between neighboring Arab states, even if a hired group serves Iranian interests.

The Saudi response was long expected, intended to make clear to those in Iran and Iraq that they are not immune from punishment and must learn a harsh lesson. For the past six months, they have repeatedly attacked Gulf Arab states whenever the United States and Israel bombed them, mistakenly believing that Gulf wisdom and patience in the face of harm were signs of weakness.

In reality, over the past months, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have worked to deny Tehran and its regional proxies—starting with the Houthis, moving through Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and including Iraqi groups such as the Popular Mobilization Units, which serve Iran—an opportunity to act.

The GCC states possess armies and equipment capable of repelling force with force, whether the aggression originates from Iran or its proxies. Our nations are not weak, as these barbaric hooligans believe, who disregard any values, customs, or international treaties and conventions.

For the past six months, the Iranian regime and its gangs operating in some Arab countries have sought to complicate matters whenever they sensed weakness, harboring the delusion that their actions would go unanswered. However, the tables have turned. Terrorist attacks will no longer go unpunished; they will face severe retributive measures, far exceeding what these fools anticipate.

The Gulf strategic trajectory has shifted. From the first moments of aggression against GCC states, the new approach has been calculated with precision. Its core principle is that there are no limits to deterrence when it comes to the sovereignty of these countries. While diplomacy is given room to operate, de-escalation will not come without a price, regardless of the aggressor’s origin.

It has long been known that the Iranian regime and its gangs work to thwart any moves toward de-escalation, believing that doing so advances their strategic goal of subjugating the region to their absurdities. To this end, they have sought to open a front at the Bab al-Mandab Strait through Houthi terrorist attacks on Saudi ships, as well as drone strikes on oil facilities in the Kingdom. These actions coincided with attacks by Iranian-backed Iraqi militias. However, that era has passed. The Kingdom and the Arab Gulf states have drawn red lines, not only for Iran but also for its proxies, who must recalibrate their calculations and accept that the future of the region is determined by the GCC states, not by any other party.

For our part, we say: Thank you, Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr, for your comments on what has happened, as he did not conceal the presence of agents and sectarian nonsense in the land of Mesopotamia, and it would be beneficial if the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mr. Ali al-Zaidi, were to carry out his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, so that Iran’s rats would cease meddling in Iraqi affairs.