UK’s Arab allies must stop funding ISIL: UK Army chiefs

Two former British army generals and a defense secretary have claimed that Britain’s Arab allies channel cash to Takfiri militants in the Middle East.

Lord Dannatt, a former chief of the General Staff, Jonathan Shaw, a former assistant chief of the Defence Staff, and Liam Fox, the former defence secretary have specifically accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of contributing to the rise of violent extremism.

All of the three senior military figures agree that airstrikes against the ISIL militants are useless and a more suitable approach would be for the British government to pressure Arab leaders into dealing with extremism by cutting off funds for terrorist networks.

“It is completely unacceptable that some individuals in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere see advantage in channeling large sums of money to the so-called Islamic State,” said Dannatt.
Shaw referred to the current military campaign as “futile” unless its underlying ideology was also directly tackled.

“It (this ideology) is funded by Saudi and Qatari money and that must stop,” he added.

Dannatt and Jonathan Shaw both said that the British Government’s failure in pressuring Riyadh and Doha would undermine its military actions against ISIL.

Fox accused the Persian Gulf Arab governments of financing terrorists themselves.

“Money has been flowing from rich individuals in the Gulf states, if not their governments, to finance them and their Sunni allies in their battle against the Assad regime,” he said.

According to a report carried out by The Telegraph, wealthy individuals in the Persian Gulf region have raised tens of millions of dollars for terrorist groups. The report also says Arab leaders have either chosen to ignore the problem or are complicit in the funding of the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

The ISIL terrorists currently control large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have carried out heinous atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheadings of people.