Earlier this month, three Saudi guards were killed as four terrorists tried to cross into the kingdom from Iraq. Two reportedly detonated suicide vests, while the others were shot by Saudi officers.
So, reports the Arab News, Saudi Arabia came up with a new border security strategy:
The Border Guards has been given orders to shoot anybody who tries to cross into Saudi territory illegally, said Vice Adm. Awad bin Eid Al-Balawi, acting director general of the Border Guards. “No negotiations will be held with the intruders,” he added.
Maj. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, official spokesman of the Border Guards, said that all Border Guards received these instructions and orders.
He explained that the new instructions demand a heavier and stricter response to the border infiltration attempts and firing at them immediately without discussion.
Al-Ghamdi said that this decision is considered the Kingdom’s sovereign right, adding that the Border Guards are working to implement these instructions in order to guarantee the safety and security of the citizens and their country.
Saudi Arabia is constructing a border fence more than 600 miles long with the Iraq border, a project that entered the planning stages in 2006 but has taken on extra urgency with the growth of the Islamic State.
Along with getting past shoot-on-sight troops, radar and night-vision scanning, ISIS will have to get through five layers of fencing on their drive to capture the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member