Five Saudi militants attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Saudi port city of Jeddah

[Sacamuelas]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/06/jeddah.attack/index.html

CNN) -- Five Saudi militants attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, but Saudi security forces killed three of them and wounded two others, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Riyadh said no Americans had been taken hostage or wounded but that two members of the local staff had been injured.

A Saudi Interior Ministry official said several members of the Saudi security forces were killed and several others wounded in Monday's attack, launched around 11:15 a.m. (3:15 a.m. ET).

In addition, he said, some Saudi civilians who were at the consulate were hit by the gunfire.

The official said the militants threw explosives at two gates of the sprawling, walled consulate and then entered, exchanging fire with guards.

A senior Saudi official in Washington told CNN's Andrea Koppel an unknown number of third country nationals who worked at the consulate were taken hostage for a time. Some suffered wounds but all were released.

He said Saudis officials believe grenades were "thrown in as a diversion." The attackers "stormed into part of the consulate" known as the visa section where they took the third country nationals hostage.

[The Reaper]

Saw that.

The Saudis have a real problem.

Sad part is, they created it and fed it for a long time, and now it is coming home to roost.

TR

[Kyobanim]

So, are they going to roll over or correct the problem? Can they even correct the problem? What are they called, wahabbis (sp), do they have the support of the population?

I know lots of questions. That's a very confusing place to try to get a handle on.

[mumbleypeg]

From 1975 until 1981, The neighborhood around the US Embassy in Jeddah was my home. I swam on the embassy swim team.

Just to add: The Red Sea Coastal plane, which includes both Mecca and Medina is known as the Hijaz, The Nejd is the Eastern section containing Riyahd and the oil.
The Shariff of Mecca, under the influence of Laurence rebelled against the Turks.

In return for launching an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks, Great Britain was prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sharif of Mecca. The Arab leaders and rebels viewed this agreement as the basis for a united Arab kingdom in the former domains of the Ottoman Empire in the Arab east including Palestine.

The Sykes-Picot agreement of May 16, 1916, divided the former Ottoman territory in the Arab east between Britain and France as administered territories and zones of influence: what emerged as Syria and Lebanon under the French, Transjordan and Iraq under the British. Palestine was to be internationalized.

Ibn Saud defeated Hussein in 1926 with the help of the Wahabis. This Allowed the formation of the Kingdon of Saudi Arabia. There is historical conflict between the Hejaz and the Nejd



http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0851259.html

Wahhabi [wähä'bē]
Pronunciation Key
Wahhabi or Wahabi , reform movement in Islam, originating in Arabia. It was founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahab (c.1703–1791), who taught that all accretions to Islam after the 3d cent. of the Muslim era—i.e., after c.950—were spurious and must be expunged. This view, involving essentially a purification of the Sunni sect, regarded the veneration of saints, ostentation in worship, and luxurious living as the chief evils. Accordingly, Wahhabi mosques are simple and without minarets, and the adherents dress plainly and do not smoke tobacco or hashish.

Driven from Medina for his preaching, the founder of the Wahhabi sect went into the NE Nejd and converted the Saud tribe. The Saudi sheik, convinced that it was his religious mission to wage holy war (jihad) against all other forms of Islam, began the conquest of his neighbors in c.1763. By 1811 the Wahhabis ruled all Arabia, except Yemen, from their capital at Riyadh. The Ottoman sultan, nominally suzerain over Arabia, had vainly sent out expeditions to crush them. Only when the sultan called on Muhammad Ali of Egypt for aid did he meet success; by 1818 the Wahhabis were driven into the desert.

In the Nejd the Wahhabis collected their power again and from 1821 to 1833 gained control over the Persian Gulf coast of Arabia. The domain thereafter steadily weakened; Riyadh was lost in 1884, and in 1889 the Saud family fled for refuge into the neighboring state of Kuwait. The Wahhabi movement was to enjoy its third triumph when Ibn Saud advanced from his capture of Riyadh in 1902 to the reconstitution in 1932 of nearly all his ancestral domain under the name Saudi Arabia, where it remains dominant. Wahhabism served as an inspiration to other Islamic reform movements from India and Sumatra to North Africa and the Sudan, and during the 20th cent. has influenced the Taliban of Aghanistan.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2004, Columbia University

[mumbleypeg]

TE Laurence made a profound impact on the Hejaz and the Middle East. It occurs to me that the House of Saud is no more and no less corrupt and oppressive than the Ottoman Turks.