WASHINGTON — As power in Saudi Arabia shifted to a new monarch, King Salman, the Obama administration’s praise of both Salman and his predecessor stood as a clear answer about whether the kingdom may become less important for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Salman’s announcement that he would stick to the course that the late King Abdullah had charted appeared to seal the deal.
Still, even if the change afoot inside the secretive kingdom is limited, it merits close attention in Washington circles because it may affect the latest U.S. priority in region: the fight against the Islamic State.
Saudi Arabia plays a major role in the knottiest aspect of that fight — the effort to vanquish ISIS in Syria. Like the U.S. — and unlike most other members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS that have focused on Iraq — the Saudis have sent jets to bomb the group in the Syrian regions where it first gained strength and broader influence.
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Nazer suggested that even without pulling out the conflict, however, Riyadh could pursue its anti-Iran goal by influencing training of the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels at the bases it will be hosting. He said there was “an air of uncertainty as to whether these fighters would only be tasked with fighting [the Islamic State] or the Assad regime as well.”
Details on the U.S.-funded program to train and equip those fighters haven’t been released. But Washington has made clear it will move forward with supplying arms and advanced knowledge to Syrians it deems moderate. U.S. defense officials said last week that at least 400 advisers and hundreds of enabling forces would be sent to the rebel-training centers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey this spring.
