Middle east has been a major concern in the global war against terrorism. There have been major terrorists attacks in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Israel which shows how terrorism can ruin lives. The active groups mainly comprise of al-Qaida, Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), Hizballah, Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Ansar al-Islam (AI). A significant amount of counterterrorist movements have been made against them one of which is the removal of Saddam Hussein while conducting the US led operation, Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Governments throughout the region have shown a great interest in joining hands in the fight against terrorism and the eradication of terrorism from their own land. These countries worked in coalition for the Iraqi freedom project and are also working in coalition with US in Afghanistan. The United States provided training throughout the region to increase the capacity of these countries in the fight against terrorism. After Saudi Arabia suffered two major, horrific terrorist attacks during 2003, it joined hands with the US and started an aggressive campaign against Al-Qaida. Saudi and US started working hand in hand for intelligence information sharing and to hinder terrorist Financing that was being carried out from this region. The Saudi Government has also widely publicized a rewards program for the capture of the Kingdom’s most-wanted terrorist suspects. Saudi security forces arrested more than 600 individuals on counter terrorism charges following the attacks in 2003.
The Government of Yemen made a number of key al-Qaida–related arrests in 2003. The United States and Yemen continue joint counterterrorism training and cooperation, and there has been significant
progress on standing up the Yemen Coast Guard. The other states have also made important progress, particularly in locating and blocking terrorist finances, sharing information and intelligence on terrorists and terrorist groups and strengthening law enforcement cooperation.
Morocco stepped-up its counterterrorism actions after the suicide bombings in Casablanca. The Moroccan authorities took strict actions to identify the culprits and uncovered the involvement of several deadly terrorist groups and took decisive legal actions to address the threat. Egypt continued to be a leader in the counterterrorism fight and increased its dialogue with the United States on this issue.
Algeria also made regional counterterrorism cooperation, supporting Coalition efforts against al-Qaida while it acted against indigenous terror groups.
The Palestinian Authority on the other hand is being continuously blamed by the western countries for taking insufficient steps to stop terrorist operations. They blame Palestine and Lebanon for continuously hosting numerous terrorist groups and that they refused to take actions against certain terrorist elements in the country.
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