Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Messages of condemnation, grief and solidarity have poured in from all parts of the world even as Saudi Arabia grappled with the aftermath of terror attacks that were carried out inside the country on Monday.

The Saudi Press Agency said that King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received a telephone call from King Abdullah of Jordan. “During the call, King Abdullah II expressed its condemnation of the terrorist operations that took place in the Kingdom,” the SPA said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, received phone calls from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and the Ministers of Interior of Bahrain and Kuwait. During the calls, they expressed condemnation of the despicable terrorist attacks that took place in the Kingdom on Monday.

Among the first to react was the US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Joseph W. Westphal, who condemned the attack adding that everyone deserves the right to worship in peace. “As the holy month of Ramadan comes to a close, Muslims from the United States to Saudi Arabia and beyond should now be celebrating the advent of Eid al-Fitr. Instead many of us will be grieving, in particular the families of the Saudi security forces personnel and others who were hurt or killed in the senseless attacks in Jeddah, Qatif, and Medina today,” Westphal said in a statement.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist attacks. In a statement released on its website, the OIC Secretary General, Iyad Ameen Madani, said that those who carried out, planned or supported these attacks were simply carrying out desperate acts to undermine the security and stability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the mainstay of the security and stability of the region and the Islamic world.

“Any person who takes out his or her life, kill and terrorize innocent people; and commit such crimes in the holy month of Ramadan and in al-Madinah al Munawwarah and close to the sacred mosque of the Prophet, negates being a Muslim and refutes every Islamic value,” Madani said. He also praised the vigilant Saudi security agencies who foil and face up to these terrorist attacks.

The United Arab Emirates strongly condemned the despicable terrorist attacks and said that the country stands in full solidarity with the leaders and people of Saudi Arabia. It also said that the UAE fully backs measures to eliminate the danger of terrorism, which aims to undermine the security and stability of Saudi Arabia and which does not respect the sanctity of this month, the Prophet’s Mosque and other places of worship that it targets.

The UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said: “We stand in solidarity with our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in their fight against the crimes of terrorism whose goals are to spread fear, takfir (branding others as infidels) and incite strife”. Sheikh Abdullah stressed that the stability of Saudi Arabia is the main pillar of the stability of the UAE and the whole of the Gulf Arab region.”

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the attack during the month of Ramadan near one of Islam’s most sacred places confirms that terrorism “knows no religion or belief or any meaning of humanity.” According to the Saudi Press Agency, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, and Bahrain have also condemned the acts of terrorism.

Iran and Hezbollah
Meanwhile, Iran on Tuesday condemned three suicide bombings that rocked Saudi Arabia and said that there are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. “Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

“Terrorism knows no border or nationality and there is no solution except creating an international and regional unity against this phenomenon,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told state broadcaster IRIB.

The Lebanon-based group Hezbollah, which has itself been branded terrorist organization by several countries and the Arab League, also condemned the bombing in Madinah. Hezbollah said the reported attack was another sign “of how these terrorists disregard all that is sacred to Muslims and all that which they agreed to respect.”

The group said attacks in recent days in Turkey, Iraq, Bangladesh and Lebanon confirm “that this dangerous epidemic needs a serious and different treatment.” It called on the world to unite against terrorism and not to use it in “political score-settling which only reflects negatively on all without exception.”

*Al Arabiya