RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds a press conference on Monday at the King Salman airbase. — AFP

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia announced yesterday the formation of a military coalition of 34 countries to fight "terrorism" in the Islamic world, in the latest sign of a more assertive foreign policy by the kingdom. The regional Sunni power said the alliance would share intelligence, combat violent ideology and deploy troops if necessary. "Nothing is off the table. A number of countries are in desperate need of assistance," Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said. "Terrorism has hit Islamic countries. It is time that the Islamic world takes a stand," he told reporters in Paris.

The alliance was announced by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also defense minister, on the same day that peace talks between the Yemeni government and Iran-backed rebels began in Switzerland, accompanied by a ceasefire. Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the coalition fits into "the larger, more assertive policy" of Saudi King Salman and Mohammed, his powerful son.

The prince told a rare news conference that the Riyadh-based coalition will tackle "the Islamic world's problem with terrorism and will be a partner in the worldwide fight against this scourge". Some coalition members like Nigeria have mixed Muslim-Christian populations, but all belong to the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation. They range from tiny African nations such as Guinea to major regional powers including Turkey.

The list does not include Shiite Iran, the archrival of Sunni Saudi Arabia for influence across the Arab world. Tehran and Riyadh are ranged on opposite sides in proxy conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Other Gulf Arab countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are also in the coalition, though notably absent from the list is Oman, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Oman has maintained a neutral role and has emerged as a mediator in regional conflicts, serving as a conduit from the Gulf Arabs to Iran.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the announcement after arriving at Incirlik airbase in Turkey yesterday at the start of a regional tour designed to drum up support for the US-led campaign against Islamic State. "We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition," he told reporters. "But in general it appears it is very much in line with something we've been urging for quite some time, which is greater involvement in the campaign to combat ISIL (Islamic State) by Sunni Arab countries," Carter added. A senior defense official said the US did not know in advance about the plan for the alliance, and that officials were working to find out the details.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara yesterday that his country backed the alliance's formation. "Turkey is ready to contribute by all its means to all gatherings that aim to fight terrorism, no matter where or by whom it is organized," he said. Sunni Islam's leading seat of learning, Al-Azhar, urged all Muslim countries to join the coalition, expressing hope that it would defeat the "evils of terrorism".

The coalition will fight "any terrorist organization that appears", Prince Mohammed said when asked if it would concentrate only on the IS group of Sunni extremists in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denounced international "terrorism" and has itself seen an upsurge of attacks claimed by IS over the past year, against minority Shiites and members of the security forces.

A Jordanian government spokesman confirmed that the Hashemite kingdom is part of the coalition. Spokesman Mohammed Momani would not comment specifically on the alliance but said that "Jordan is always ready and actively participates in any effort to fight terrorism." A Lebanese official confirmed to AP that his nation was also part of the 34-nation coalition. Tiny Lebanon has seen frequent spillovers from Syria's civil war next door, as well as sectarian clashes and militant attacks. "Lebanon is fighting a daily war against terrorism ... Lebanon cannot but be part of the alliance that is combating terrorism," said the official. Asked how Lebanon plans to contribute to the alliance, he said that "these are details that we haven't gotten into yet."

Farea Al-Muslimi, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, called most of the countries "honorary members" in a coalition that "seemed to have been cooked at the last minute" without clear goals. Muslimi said the coalition seems like an attempt by Saudi Arabia to ease some of the international pressure it has faced on the issue.

The IS threat "is the most fundamental challenge to Saudi's raison d'etat and the security of its citizens," said Andreas Krieg, a professor at the Department of Defence Studies at King's College London. "It is therefore not surprising for Saudi to seek greater cooperation across the board in the fight against militant Islamism," said Krieg, who also serves as a consultant to the Qatari armed forces. The huge human and financial costs of the kingdom's military operation in Yemen have become increasingly difficult for it to bear, he said. "Only joint military operations are a real option."

In March, the kingdom formed an Arab coalition to support the Yemeni government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies, who seized much of the country. Saudi Arabia has also played a prominent role in efforts to find a political solution to the war in Syria. Last week, it hosted unprecedented talks between opposition Syrian political and military factions. Muslimi and Krieg did not see the new coalition leading to a more direct Saudi military role in Syria.

Saudi Arabia supports some rebels in Syria, and last year joined other Gulf states in a US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria. The UAE said two weeks ago that it was ready to commit ground troops against jihadists in Syria, and described Russian air strikes there as attacks on a "common enemy". Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Russia awaited more details before evaluating the Saudi announcement about the new coalition. - Agencies