The Saudi government is concerned by the growing violence in Iraq stemming from a persistent insurgency and sectarian strife. As a result, the Royal Kingdom is planning to build a security fence along its 560 km border with Iraq. The fence is one component of a $12 billion package of measures aimed at strengthening border security for Saudi Arabia .
From the Saudi government?s perspective, the political and social chaos in Iraq presents two distinct security threats: 1) Shiite militants operating in Iraq will cross into Saudi Arabia and provoke unrest among Saudi Arabia?s Shiite minority population, and 2) Saudi Sunni militants fighting in Iraq will return home to continue their jihad against the Royal Kingdom.
Twin Threats
Saudi Arabia?s Shiite minority has been discriminated against and continues to live as second-class citizens within the country. Additionally, they reside in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia under which lies the country?s vital oil resources. Thus, with multiple Shiite militias operating in Baghdad and southern Iraq, Saudi Arabia is fearful that Iraqi Shiite militants will cross the border and inspire Saudi Shiites to rebel against the government, fomenting unrest and disorder in the vital oil producing region. Moreover, the threat from Iraqi Shiite militants comes within the context of Saudi Arabia?s broader concern of Shiite power and influence emanating from Tehran and expanding across the Middle East at the expense of economically stable Sunni Arab states .
Saudi militants comprise a significant portion of the foreign mujahideen fighting in the Sunni-led Iraqi insurgency. In April 2006, US forces reported that Saudis were among the top five nationalities of foreign militants captured in Iraq (source). The Saudi government recognizes and fears the possibility that these same militants, trained and experienced in the battlefield of Iraq, will return home to continue their violent jihad. The radical Islamic community regards the Kingdom as an apostate ruler for both having invited US forces onto sacred lands during the Persian Gulf War and for perceived pro-US policies in general. Saudi Arabia has already experienced multiple terrorist attacks from Islamic militants, including the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 , the Riyadh Compound bombing in 2003 , and the attempted suicide attack on the Abqaiq oil processing complex in 2006 .
Border Security Focus
Iraqi officials have also voiced support for the Saudi border fence, hoping it will likewise inhibit the flow of Saudi militants coming into Iraq. Yet, Iraq?s hope in this regard, as well as the Saudi?s rationale for the fence, may be misplaced in focusing on the Saudi-Iraq border. The majority of foreign militants?including Saudis–enter Iraq through Syria, Jordan, and Iran. It is likely the trail of militants seeking to reach Saudi Arabia would flow back through these countries and into the Kingdom.
Regardless, it is evident the 560-mile desert border with Iraq is a gaping security issue for Saudi Arabia that had to be addressed. Indeed, there has been no official presence on Iraq?s side of the border since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. With ?135 electronically controlled gates, fence-mounted ultraviolet intruder detection sensors, buried radio detection sensors and concertina razor wire? (source), Saudi Arabia intends to keep out the various destabilizing consequences of Iraq?s intensifying civil conflict.
