Saudi Gazette report

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has welcomed the announcement by the law authorities in the United States of the recovery of critical intelligence from the cell phones of the gunman who killed three US sailors at a military base at Pensacola, Florida, last year.

Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Washington issued a statement on Monday reiterating the Kingdom’s sincerest condolences to the American people on the tragedy that unfolded in December last year.

As Attorney General William P. Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray noted, Saudi Arabia has fully cooperated with US law enforcement on the investigation, and will continue to provide full support to the American counterparts, the statement said.

The statement noted that the military training the US provides to Saudi military personnel has enabled Saudi soldiers, pilots and sailors to fight along their American counterparts and against our common foes.

“We also have been coordinating with our American partners to better protect American and Saudi citizens from terrorist threats.”

“Our close intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation has saved lives in the United States, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and undoubtedly made the world a safer place,” the statement read.

The embassy revealed that approximately 28,000 Saudis have undergone military training in the US over the course of several decades.

“As this attack tragically reminds us, the extremists and terrorists that threaten both our nations will not stop in their efforts to target innocent people,” the embassy said.

“At this very moment, AI-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the ISIS (Daesh) and other extremist groups are trying to use the extraordinary challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic to elevate their profiles, spread their hateful propaganda and mobilize new global threats,” the embassy added.

“We must stay on guard and never let up in our efforts to defeat terrorism.”

This is why the Kingdom has been so committed to the restoration of security and stability in Yemen, where the AQAP is based.

“We are determined not to let Yemen become another haven for global terrorist organizations, and we have worked closely with the United States to keep the AQAP and the ISIS on the run,” the embassy said.

Last June, Saudi forces scored a major counterterrorism victory by capturing Abu Osama Al-Muhajir, Daesh's leader in Yemen, in a raid in eastern Yemen.

The embassy pointed out that the Kingdom has used every means at its disposal to counter the men, mindset and money that allow Al-Qaeda, Daesh and other terrorist groups to recruit followers and to threaten communities and even entire nations.

In addition, the terrorists who targeted Saudi Arabia’s people, leadership, military personnel and even our holiest religious complexes in Makkah and Madinah on multiple occasions. “But we will never let the terrorists win, or allow their acts of hatred to divide us.”

The US-Saudi partnership is one of the primary pillars of the global effort to dismantle and defeat terrorist networks such as the AQAP.

The two countries will maintain unbreakable commitment to combat the forces of evil, wherever they exist.